The army helicopter chased off the remaining Roamers, spitting more flame. I couldn’t see if anyone else had been hit. The din of the rotors faded.
“I think they’ve gone now, Sis,” I whispered.
When I turned to Wendy, tears were running down her cheeks. We hugged each other gratefully. Strangely, I was the stronger one then.
We cautiously slid open the freight wagon door and climbed out of the freight wagon. We looked around fearfully. We stood over the other, staring at him curiously. We’d not seen a dead person close-up before. The right side of his face was missing.
Wendy and I ran all the way home through the woods on the other side of the railway embankment, avoiding the streets and main roads. When we got home, we would have some explaining to do.
Father sat Wendy and I down in the living room. Mother made us some hot, sweet tea. We needed it.
“What happened?” asked father who already knew the answer before he had asked the question.
“We fell over in the woods while we were taking a short cut home,” I lied easily, I thought. “There were no buses running.”
He sighed. “Wendy?”
“Roamers!” she blurted out before she burst into tears.
“Right, that’s it,” decided father firmly. “You’re not going to college anymore.”
I was stunned. “But, Daddy-”
He was adamant. “Jade, it’s got far too dangerous now for you girls. The situation has got out of control on the streets. You’re staying indoors from now on. The quicker I get that wall finished the better.”
I saw my whole world falling apart before my eyes and my dreams of becoming a scientist on the International Space Platform. It had all gone…It had gone.
“Jade, you know it-”
“No, I won’t,” I breathed before I leapt to my feet and fled from the room tearfully.
I sulked alone upstairs in my room, turning on the portable really loud. There wasn’t much on. It was mostly repeats in black and white. When someone tapped on my bedroom door, I ignored him. Father entered my room. He turned the TV down. I stood by the window with my arms folded.
“Jade, sulking in your room isn’t going to solve anything,” he said. “We’ve got to talk about this like two, sensible adults.”
I turned my head, gazing out of the window. I admitted that I was behaving like a child when I wanted to be treated like an adult.
“Listen to me, Jade; the world has changed dramatically in a short time. We talked about how things might be after the comet, and a lot of people are blaming it for what is happening to the world today, but I think it goes deeper than that. Something dark that has always been there has now risen to the surface. We use the comet as an excuse to explain it all away. What is happening out there is frightening; however, we’ve got to learn to cope with it. Do you understand that, Jade?”
My eyes were filled with tears. “Daddy, I want to go to university. I want you to be proud of me.”
“But, sweetheart, I am proud of you,” he said.
“I know,” I whispered.
I hugged him gratefully.
Wendy and I showered afterwards.
Wendy was looking on the window in her room. I was standing in the door watching her. I had something on my mind that had been nagging me all afternoon since our encounter with the Roamers. Dropping out of sec college didn’t seem to bother my sister. I was unsurprised. She was philosophic about most things in life. Would she be when I dropped this little bombshell on her?
I bit my lip. It wasn’t easy for me. “Wendy, are you still seeing Kevin Willis tonight?”
“Now that daddy has confined us to the house, I guess Kevin will have to call around instead. I can’t visit him. I’ve text him once or twice, though he hasn’t replied yet. He’s switched off his vid phone. I could only get through to his vid message service.”
“Wendy, don’t let him in.”
She looked puzzled. “Jade, what are you talking about?”
“I-I saw him, Wendy.”
“When?”
“This afternoon.”
She remained confused. “But I was with you all afternoon, Jade, and I didn’t see him on the way home.”
“I did.”
She sighed wearily. “When, Jade?”
“When we were hiding from the Roamers in the freight wagon, Wendy,” I answered, biting my lip.
She wore an odd expression on her face. “What are you trying to tell me, Jade?”
“When I looked through the gap, his hood slipped briefly, and I saw his face.”
“Whose?”
“Kevin Willis,” I answered quietly. “He’s a Roamer, Wendy.”
9. VPF
It was early morning.
We were like two, big kids. We were excited. Why?
Wendy and I were going on a shopping expedition with our parents, which was an adventure in itself nowadays as we soon discovered a little later. We had been cooped up in the big house for too long, and we needed a break to escape the boredom and monotony. We felt that father was being a little overprotective of us. Although we understood why, we needed to get out of the big house once in awhile before staying in day after day drove us both mad. Wendy admitted that she missed shopping until she dropped, but we both knew that the old days would probably never return. It was sad. We nagged daddy till he finally caved in. He couldn’t leave us in the big house alone. That really wouldn’t be fair. So we were going shopping.
With the high wall, which was nearly a metre thick, around the big house, like many others in Crown Dale Close, it had become a fortress, our own little citadel, intended to deter the Roamers and the other urban street gangs. It was something that I’d always feared. Perhaps it was inevitable. It still made me feel sad because we’d all lost some of our freedom in these dark times. Was this the future? Daddy said that it would return to normal one day. I wondered.
Wendy had finally got over Kevin Willis. She had been sulking for weeks, blaming herself. He never called that evening after our hairy encounter with the Roamers. He had probably become another street statistic. Wendy still wouldn’t accept that he was a gang leader and a member of the Roamers, insisting that I’d been mistaken, or that it was someone else who looked like him. I wasn’t mistaken. It was Kevin Willis. I suspected that she knew the truth about him deep down.
As daddy hitched the trailer to our Land-Rover, which was parked by the house, I watched him for a moment or two from the landing window. When he looked up and caught me, he gave me a little wave. I blew him a kiss instead.
I was barefoot. I stood in Wendy’s door in my pink polo neck and old jeans, watching her putting on make-up as she sat in front of her dressing table mirror. She was wearing her Sunday best, puzzling me.
“Wendy, you’re going shopping and not on a date,” I pointed out amused.
She painted her nails unconcerned. “You never know who we might bump into, Jade. There are lots of exciting hunks out there serving behind shop counters.” She added, “Unlike you, Jade, I like to look good when I go out, even if it is only shopping.”
Wendy had said it for me. I really wasn’t bothered. I haven’t dressed up in ages.
I put my head around my parents’ door later.
“Hi, Dad, Wendy and I are…” The words died on my lips. Father sat alone on the bed loading a revolver. It was the first time that I’d seen it in the house, and I was worried. “Dad?”
He was grim-faced. “This is a precautionary measure when we go out today, Jade. I hope I never have to fire it in anger.”
So did I.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Although it remained illegal, most people kept guns in their homes, for their fears were real enough. The government was powerless to do anything about it. People simply took the law into their own hands to protect themselves, their families and their homes. It was a question of self-preservation. No one relied on the government anymore.
“Daddy, will you show me how to use it one day?” I asked without thinking. The words just fell right out of my mouth.
He wasn’t annoyed. “Jade, never point a loaded gun at someone unless you intend to use it.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“And make your first shot count, Jade. You may not get a second chance.”
I murmured.
My father was a scientist, a gentle family man who adored his wife and kids, yet he was beginning to sound more like a sheriff in an old Wild West movie.
After he had loaded the revolver, he tucked it into a leather holster. When he caught me watching him, he winked. I smiled.
The picture of another time long past slipped into my head. Daddy stood on the dusty main street, a man alone wearing a tin star, facing down the bad guy in black. He’d done dirty deeds. But was he prepared to die? Daddy’s tin star glittered in the other’s eyes, and he knew fear for the first time. He was the law in this town.
“Jade?”
I giggled, and my cheeks burned when I realised.
“Ready?”
I nodded.
I noticed the troubled look on mum’s face when Wendy and I entered the living room with father. Mum glanced at his holstered sidearm.
We sat in the big, green Land-Rover, which was second-hand, as daddy opened the big, heavy gates. He had swapped the Japanese Jeep, which wasn’t, for the four-wheel-drive that was more robust and reliable. Mummy, who sat behind the wheel, swung out through the gates gingerly. We waited with the engine ticking over as father locked the gates behind us with heavy chains and two, large padlocks. Then he joined us, slipping into the front, passenger seat beside mother before we moved out. We were going shopping. But it wasn’t shopping as we once knew it.
Wendy and I stared in silence at the burnt-out shops and buildings. The Roamers had been busy again during the night, destroying things in minutes that had stood for decades, even centuries. They were the barbarians of the New Age. The white painted armoured vehicles of the VPF (the Volunteer Police Force) occasionally passed us on the road. Tommy pressed his face on the window excitedly whenever he spotted one.
After another crop failure, the government took the drastic measure of introducing national food rationing on top of petrol rationing as well as the rationing of luxury goods and utilities. The big supermarkets were ordered to close, and the government approved Food and Utilities distribution warehouses took over.
We drove through the gates of the South East London Food and Utilities Warehouse, a former sports centre, which was heavily fortified and guarded by armed men in black VPF uniforms. We found a parking space.
When mum opened her bag and took out her green ration book, dad waved it away.
“We won’t be needing it this time, love,” he said mysteriously. “I’ve sorted something else out.”
Mum looked puzzled. So did Wendy and I.
“Wait here, and someone will be along shortly,” instructed daddy. And with that, he vanished inside the warehouse building.
We waited in the car park by the stationary Land-Rover. When I glanced at mum with a question on my lips, she simply shrugged her shoulders. She was in the dark too along with the rest of us, Wendy and I. Tommy didn’t count yet. Wendy slipped her arm around me. When she whispered something quite rude in my ear, I giggled. Mum shot us a dark look.
After a few minutes waiting by the parked Land-Rover, an electric forklift truck approached us. It was laden high with supplies including cases of tinned stuff and luxury goods. We looked at one another, for we were unsure. The forklift driver, a youth, slim with long, greasy hair, stopped by us.
“You the Robinsons?” inquired the young forklift driver with an accent.
I nodded.
He smiled, revealing broken, yellow teeth. “This is for you then.”
As the young forklift driver unloaded the supplies by our Land-Rover, I noticed Wendy eyeing him up. She’s unbelievable. You can’t take her anywhere. She wore a big grin on her face. He winked at Wendy who giggled.
“It’s all paid for,” he said breezily.
As he left again on his empty forklift truck, Wendy watched him disappearing out of her life forever. She let out a small sigh. I put my arm around her.
Mum stared at the supplies, frowning. “I really don’t know what your father is up to, girls.”
We murmured. Mum, Wendy and I laughed suddenly. Tommy joined in.
Tommy ran around our feet, getting in the way. He treated the shopping expedition as one big adventure. He was too young to understand any of it. It was also work for Wendy and I. We exchanged curious glances as we helped to load the cases of tinned stuff onto the trailer. It wasn’t Christmas. It just felt like it. This looked like a year’s rations to me. I remained baffled till something happened a little later.
An urgent call of nature took me away from the others.
When I entered the public toilets, a familiar smell filled my delicate nostrils. It reminded me of the toilets at school, perhaps worse. I quickly turned my attention to the stalls, pushing open each door in turn. They were all empty. I had the toilets to myself. I hate sharing with strangers. I was the same at school. I used to wait till I got home. I chose the end stall because it was the furthest one from the door. I locked myself in. When I lifted the toilet lid and saw what someone else had left behind, I held my nose in disgust. Some people were so inconsiderate to others. I jerked the cistern lever. The long, dark shape vanished beneath a white, bubbling whirlpool.
As I was coming out of the public toilets, I saw father talking with a man whom I’d never seen before. I paused, watching them curiously. They didn’t notice me. The slightly overweight man in glasses and a heavy moustache wore a brown warehouseman’s coat, so I presumed that he was a member of staff at the Food and Utilities government warehouse. I was puzzled at first. Then Daddy handed over a velvet blue display case. I recognised it almost at once. It contained his precious antique gold and silver coin collection that had taken him years to build up. The other checked it briefly before he nodded to daddy. They shook hands. A deal had been struck. Daddy had just paid for our extra food rations and the other supplies. I’d better explain. Not many people accepted paper money these days. Hyper inflation had made it virtually worthless. What I’d just witnessed made me feel a little sad, but I understood why daddy had to do it.
When I returned, I helped mum and Wendy put away the rest of our supplies into the back of the Land-Rover. The bulk of it was on the trailer, which was now covered with tarpaulin and secured with ropes. Daddy appeared from the building. He looked surprised when I ran up to him, giving him a big hug. The others glanced at each other puzzled. He saw it in my eyes, and he knew that I knew.
After pestering the others, they let me take the wheel on the drive home. I enjoy driving whenever I can, which isn’t often owing to the severe petrol rationing. The shopping trips used up our weekly ration. Father sat beside me in the front, passenger seat.
As we were driving through central Croydon past the boarded-up shops and department stores, I became aware of the white VPF vehicle in my mirror. He was following us, puzzling me. He flashed his blue lights and sounded his siren briefly, ordering us to pull over. I obeyed. I was worried. What had I done wrong? Father put his hand on my shoulder.
“Keep calm, Jade,” he said reassuringly. “I’ll sort this out.”
I murmured.
A VPF cop in black leathers and body armour climbed out of the white armoured vehicle. He wore a holstered sidearm. He lifted his helmet visor, revealing a blonde youth with thin, sullen lips. When he tapped on the window on my side, I wound it down.
“What’s the problem, Officer?” I asked with a slight tremble in my voice, betraying my emotions, for the other intimidated me.
“You were speeding back there, Miss,” he answered. His voice was cold and authoritarian. He sounded older than his years.
Speeding? But that was untrue. I’
d been only travelling at 30 kph in a 40 kph zone; therefore, I hadn’t exceeded the speed limit, and the other knew it. The VPF fined motorists on the spot for speeding. The fines were arbitrary. The cops usually pocketed the money themselves. Of course, I don’t mean ‘money’ in the real sense of the word. Most people had to hand over their ration books instead. The VPF was deeply mistrusted, disliked and corrupt.
When he looked in our vehicle, I noticed his eyes straying to our supplies in the back. He unzipped his breast pocket and took out his ticket book.
“Driver’s licence and insurance,” he demanded brusquely.
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding, Officer,” interjected daddy.
“Misunderstanding, Sir?” queried the VPF officer who remained impassive.
“I’m sure we can sort something out, Officer,” said father.
Father gave the VPF cop a case from our rations. It was a bribe, an expensive one.
As we rode through the Streatham streets continuing our journey home, I took a wrong turning somewhere back there. We had strayed from a Green Zone, an area considered safe, into a Red Zone, which was definitely not safe. The VPF cop had unsettled me. He would soon be the least of our worries. Father saw it a second before me and shouted a warning.
VENUS PEBBLES!!
The road ahead was blocked by torched buses and trucks.
I reacted quickly. I slammed on the brakes, locking the wheels on the four-wheel-drive, burning rubber in the quiet, deserted street. I looked around. Most of the crumbling buildings and shops were boarded-up.
“Back up, Jade,” said father with a sense of urgency in his calm voice.
I crunched the gears as I put her into reverse, looking over my shoulder.
“Take it nice and easy, Jade.”
I murmured.
The Ragged People in hoods appeared silently from the derelict buildings. They had pink eyes and their faces were as white as ghosts. Some were young children. They lived in the dark places. They rarely came out during the day, but we had something that they wanted, food.
“Troggies!” gasped Wendy alarmed.
They quickly surrounded our vehicle. They began rocking it. I froze. They were going to have us over. Everybody was scared. Tommy was crying in the back with mother trying to comfort him. Wendy was ashen-faced.
The Citadel and the Wolves Page 13