Icefall

by Hallowes, Guy

  'Okay, that makes sense.'

  'I do have an apology to make to you though,' said David.

  'Oh, what?'

  'You warned me many times about Donald, but I thought I knew better. I'm sorry.'

  'Not necessary, but thank you. If you hadn't been on such a slow horse the day we apprehended him, you wouldn't be around to make this apology. Frankly, I would miss you. I'm getting all bloody sentimental now.' She put the phone down and wiped away a tear.

  Days after the execution, Susan and Chloe arranged a funeral service and burial for Barry. The service was held on the parade ground and everyone in the community who was able attended the emotion-charged event. David was persuaded by Tanya to attend and was asked to say a few words.

  'This is the celebration of a life cut short before its prime. Barry will never go to school; he will not have the opportunity to attend The Academy; he will never marry. We will all remember him as a sweet, cheerful little boy. Most importantly, we need to understand the loss that Susan and Chloe have suffered. We must also remember that justice has been done and the scourge that we found in the midst of our society has been removed.'

  The whole community accompanied the little coffin to the top end of the property, where it joined the few other graves already there.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Newcastle Again

  Kim led her troop of fifty out of The Settlement a few days prior to the execution of Donald Weatherspoon. They were mostly under thirty, except Joe, and split evenly between the sexes. Some had wished to wait until after the execution, 'To create finality,' as they described it, but most were relieved to be away from The Settlement's now oppressive and stifling atmosphere.

  Riding northeast, within a few days the troop emerged from the wooded areas to join the Putty Road towards what was once the small, attractive village of Wollombi. As with all the roads, there were now rusting cars jamming it up, many with the remains of occupants still inside. The village was a morass of all sorts of vehicles scattered in every spare corner, most with bones and remnants of clothing partly covering them. There appeared to be no sign of life.

  Kim said to the horrified troop, 'We'll camp here for the night.' She directed people to organise the camp. 'We need to conduct a proper search,' she said to the rest of the party. 'Go into every building. It may be that there were absolutely no survivors at all, but I'd like to be certain of that.'

  They searched high and low through the museum, the looted grocery store, the pub, all the houses, and the two cafés. Most people returned after an hour or more with the same story—human remains. Some had died peacefully in bed, but others had evidently been the subject of violent and horrific deaths. There was not a scrap of food to be had anywhere, other than the occasional tomato on an overgrown plant in the chaotic gardens.

  As they were all gathering in the camp, one of the troop rushed up to Kim to breathlessly announce, 'I think I've found something, please come and have a look?'

  Being directed to the very outskirts of the village, Kim saw a decrepit little cottage hidden away, almost overwhelmed by creepers. With difficulty, they forced the unlocked door open. It was clear the place was occupied, although there was nobody visible. Out the back of the cottage, there was an extensive, well-maintained vegetable garden and an orchard. Beyond that there were three or four contented looking cows, a bull, and a small flock of sheep.

  'Hello,' Kim yelled, 'is there anyone here?' There was a deafening silence. She tried once more, with no effect. 'They may show themselves later. I will leave them a note. If they don't want to be found that's too bad. I wonder how they survived though.'

  They looked around the establishment.

  'There are definitely two people living here,' said Kim, 'and a child. I wish we could find them. If they need help we can provide it.' She tried calling again, but there was no response.

  Kim briefed all the guards on returning to the campsite, 'There is undoubtedly someone living here. You need to keep your eyes skinned. It's possible they might try to creep into camp out of curiosity as much as anything. If they come innocently, we need to persuade them that we mean them no harm and may even be able to help them. So, double up on the number of guards.'

  In the dead of the very dark night, one of the guards, Jim, saw a faint movement on the opposite side of the camp. He quietly crept around keeping to the shadows, hoping that the other guard on duty had seen him move and would come to help if needed. Something attracted his eye among the horses and he quickly moved in that direction. There was a man trying to loosen the tethers on several horses. Jim, unseen, raced around and using his strength and considerable bulk, took the man down with a ferocious rugby tackle. The other guard was on hand, helping to subdue the large, whiskery man who silently fought both guards as if his life depended on it. Some of the untethered horses started to move away.

  'Tie him up firmly,' Jim muttered, 'and I'll take him to Kim. You'd better try to catch the loose horses.'

  By this time, the rest of the sleeping troop had been alerted to the fracas. The horses were all recaptured, some with difficulty, then the fire was built up and the prisoner was dragged reluctantly into the firelight.

  Kim said to him kindly, 'We are on our way to Newcastle and just happened to pass this little village. We mean you no harm, and if you wish to be left alone then so be it. We could be in a position to help you though if that is what you want. We would like to understand your story. How have you survived here when most didn't?'

  There was no response from the man, who continued to struggle fruitlessly against his bonds. A minute later, an unkempt woman and a pretty child of about six were brought into the gathering. Kim could see that the woman, slim, with short brown hair, would have been pretty once, but she now looked tired and careworn. The man emitted a low moan and looked about wildly.

  Kim repeated to the terrified woman what she had just said to the man. 'Please, just tell us your names and what must be a remarkable story of survival. We are here to help if we can. We mean you no harm.' The child had accepted a warm drink from one of the troopers.

  'I'm Mary and Joshua is my husband … ' she waved a hand vaguely in his direction. 'Amy is our child … We came to live here a few years before the flood … We were strangers in the village and mostly kept to ourselves … When all the people started to come into the village, after the flood, we managed to lock ourselves away. As you can see, the cottage is tucked out of sight. One or two people tried to … '

  'Shut up Mary,' said Joshua firmly. 'These people look like the police.'

  'We aren't the police,' answered Kim. 'We'll tell you who we are. Anyway there are no police anymore. And, your child, Amy would have been born after the flood. How did you cope with her birth with absolutely nobody to help you?'

  'We just did. We have cattle and sheep on the property, so we have a reasonable idea of what happens when a mammal gives birth.' She smiled wanly.

  'What about medical attention?'

  'We just do what we can. Amy had a younger sister who died a few months ago.' A tear slipped out, which was quietly wiped away.

  'Have you seen anyone around here in the last couple of years?'

  'You are the first people we have seen since those ghastly weeks after the flood. We didn't move from our cottage for more than two months and then we found that all the people in the village had died. There wasn't much we could do so, as you see, we left them alone.'

  'Maybe you'd like us to tell you something about ourselves,' suggested Kim.

  Mary shrugged. 'If you like.'

  Kim then gave a brief account of The Settlement, 'We have a hospital and a school, for example, if that is of interest.'

  'We want to be left here, alone,' said Joshua gruffly.

  'If that is your choice then we'll respect it,' Kim answered. 'You should understand, though, that the comparatively few people who have survived have started to move about. It may not be very safe here in future and there are no police. You
may be better off joining one or other of the nearby settlements, or encouraging others to join you here.'

  There was silence while breakfast was cooked and served; even Joshua participated.

  'Why did you try to release our horses, by the way?' asked Kim.

  Mary looked uncertainly at her husband.

  'We just wanted you out of here,' muttered Joshua unconvincingly.

  Kim shook her head and didn't pursue the matter.

  As daylight emerged, the troop efficiently packed up the camp and was ready to move by seven thirty. Joshua had been released from his bonds.

  Kim said to Mary, just prior to departure, 'We are on our way to Newcastle on another mission. I will arrange for another visit from our people within a month or so, who can help you if you need any. You need to make up your minds, but the chances of remaining here in complete isolation for much longer are remote. It may become unsafe.'

  The troop made their way through Pokolbin and the famous wine-growing area of the Hunter Valley. The roads as they had now come to expect were scattered with cars going nowhere. The once pristine vines were now wildly overgrown. One winery had been burnt to the ground and others, looking forlorn and deserted, were covered in creepers. The troop noticed, as Stephanie had mentioned, that the countryside was becoming overgrown.

  'There may be the occasional pocket of survivors,' Kim said to the group. 'If they show any signs of wanting to be found, for want of a better word, then we can make contact and tell them who we are. If they want to be left alone, then so be it. We can't lose sight of our mission.'

  The small, rather ugly town of Cessnock was utterly deserted. In days gone by it had been a fuel stop on the northern road from Sydney to Brisbane. One of the leading members of the troop sighted what appeared to be a ten year old boy as they left the small, nearby settlement of Kurri-Kurri.

  'Some of us should follow the boy at a safe distance, so as not to frighten anybody. The rest should stay here for the moment,' said Kim.

  They were nervously greeted by a group of adults and a gaggle of unkempt, dirty children. The four Settlement people dismounted and gave the children gifts of food.

  'We are from a place in the Blue Mountains which we call The Settlement,' offered Kim. 'We're here to help, if you need anything. Somehow you survived and continue to do so.'

  'Are you from the Australian Government?' asked one of the men.

  'No, we have nothing to do with Government; it doesn't exist anymore anyway.'

  'How can you help then?'

  'We are well established and have such things as a hospital and school. We are looking to re-open the Port of Newcastle and perhaps re-settle some of the area between the Blue Mountains and the sea.'

  'What do you want from us?' asked the man suspiciously.

  'Nothing specific, although if you knew a short route to Newcastle that would be helpful. Also if you know the area it might help us decide on possible settlement opportunities nearby.'

  'Such as?'

  'Firstly, we need a source of food if people are to settle here, then we can re-establish schools and so on.'

  'There is no fuel anywhere around here.'

  'We have solar-powered tractors, which partly gets around that problem. We want to know if there are any other survivors in the area and if there are any other major settlements around.'

  'We've seen no other people since the flood, but … ' he hesitated and looked for support from his companions, 'there is a group of quite wild people who come down here occasionally from the North. They raided us once recently and took away one of our young girls and some cattle. We have replaced the cattle, there are plenty of them running wild around here, but we are worried about what happened to the girl. They have not been back for a while … '

  'They will be back,' said one of the women firmly.

  'Okay, so security is a big issue. We could leave one or two of our people here if that would be of any help. Later we might be able to do something more permanent here for you, or when we have established our base in Newcastle you could move there.'

  'We are quite well-established here, so we want to stay,' the man responded. 'There are plenty of places that were abandoned during the floods, so if people wanted to move here we could show you where to go. These people came in force last time. There were about fifty of them on horseback, so leaving just a couple of people here wouldn't be much help.'

  'What do you really want?'

  'Central services like education and hospitals would be good. And security, of course.'

  'What do these wild men call themselves?'

  'Barrington. I think they are based at Barrington Tops. They had horses and guns, but aren't as well set up as you. We had no real conversation with them, they just came in, took the cattle and the girl, and left.'

  'What happens, in the short term, if these people from Barrington return?'

  'We have a plan, but there are only a few of us. We're hoping we'll just be left alone.'

  'If six of us stayed here until something more permanent was developed, would that help?'

  'Yes, six would help.' He looked around for nods of agreement from his colleagues. 'Food is not a problem, we can feed them.'

  'How many of you are there?'

  'Ten adults and now fifteen children.'

  Kim called the rest of the troop to join them.

  'We need six volunteers to stay here until something more permanent can be arranged. None of the technical people please as they're needed in Newcastle.'

  Within a minute, six hands had been raised, including Jim.

  'Good, we'll stay here the night and make a plan. Security is paramount.' She told them about the raid and the abduction. 'Jim will be in charge, but this will only be a temporary arrangement. I'll talk to Tanya about something more permanent.'

  During the rest of the day, with the help of the leader of the group, Richard, they surveyed the area on horseback. Over the evening meal they developed a security plan.

  'Jim, have you looked at all the weapons here?'

  'They are mostly okay. Some of them could do with a bit of upgrading. We'll look around the houses here and see what we can find over the next few days,'

  Richard smiled, 'We have always been a bit reluctant to go and raid other people's houses, for all sorts of reasons, but you people don't seem to worry.'

  'No, the owners are past caring, so anything you need will just go to waste if you don't use it. That applies to everything—tractors, cars, computers, and so on.'

  'We have no fuel or electricity,' said Richard.

  'Solar is what we rely on. We can probably fix you up with a solar-powered tractor.'

  The Kurri-Kurri group were in a very good frame of mind when Kim's troop left at dawn. They were accompanied by an eighteen year old boy as a guide, who left them to return home once they reached the outskirts of the city of Newcastle. The boy led them down a little used, overgrown path and the city gradually came into view. It looked asleep, there was no movement, nothing, as they descended carefully into the built-up area. The troop stopped now and then to take in what they were seeing and to get used to the idea that this once thriving city was indeed a ghost town.

  Two weeks after their departure from The Settlement, the now forty-four strong, well-mounted, disciplined troop, riding two by two, entered the eerily deserted streets of Newcastle. Much of the city centre was under water as were all the low-lying districts north of the Hunter River. There was no visible sign of any human habitation at all. The once pristine gardens were all overwhelmingly overgrown with a mixture of once-cultivated plants and rampant weeds. Everything gave off a seedy, decayed look.

  Kim stopped her troop outside a large mansion at the top of a hill, 'I would like to have a quick look in here.'

  Handing over the reins of her horse, she had to break a window to unlock the front door. Everything was very tidy and orderly, although smothered in dust. There was not a scrap of food in the kitchen, the garbage had been ta
ken out, and the electricity switched off. Upstairs she found ten clusters of bones in a series of bedrooms—six adults and four children. There was no sign of any violence. There was a note on the bedside table in the main bedroom dated six weeks after the flood had hit the Eastern Seaboard of Australia.

  It read, "Should anyone find this note, we completely ran out of food, the electricity failed within hours of the city being flooded, and there is no water in the taps. We took the only option open to us."

  A list of names, with their respective ages, was added at the end of the note. Kim stood for a minute with her head bowed. How many million times will this scene have been repeated in Australia and around the world, she thought. We must never let it happen again.

  Looking through the house, she found several laptops and, in the garage, three luxury cars, now rusted through and sitting on flat, decayed tyres.

  Having relocked the door she returned to the troop and told them what she had seen. 'We'd better find this helicopter place,' she said thoughtfully, as they rode off.

  After some searching they found the warehouse Kim had visited with Tanya a few weeks earlier. She knew it was close to the northern freeway. The troop was halted within sight of the warehouse.

  'When we were last here there were signs of a person living inside. We must capture him without hurting him in any way. Maybe he knows something about this place.' She briefly explained the geography of the premises. 'There is a door at the back. When I open the main warehouse door, he'll probably try to escape through the back door, so if six of you,' she pointed, 'quietly go around the back while the rest of you surround this place. We ought to be able to apprehend him without too much trouble.'

  Some members of the troop were detailed to hold the horses and the rest deployed as Kim had directed. Joe then picked the lock on the warehouse door, a skill that many from The Settlement had learnt from Tanya, and, with difficulty, pushed it open sufficiently to allow entry. There was the noise of someone or something scrambling away in the far reaches of the huge building. Then a flash of light as a door opened, faint signs of a struggle, and a lot of swearing.