Aftermath: The Complete Collection (Books 1 & 2)

by John Wilkinson

  ‘Maybe’ he replied, as we made our way to the stairs in reception. We joined a couple more men on the stairs, and not wanting to be late, took the steps two at a time. On the third floor, we found ourselves in a large function room, maybe the length of the entire hotel. There was a low rumble of voices, as everyone made their way to their designated lines, and I followed Sergeant Davis. ‘Late again Davis’ said the solider in the line opposite. ‘You’re making a habit of this. Every morning you wake up and you’re still drunk.’

  ‘Every morning you wake up you’re still a prick’ Sergeant Davis spat back. The soldier was a tall, thin, strange looking fellow, with no chin, and an unusual way of holding himself. Sergeant Davis later told me the soldier was Sergeant Welsh, one of seven hundred and seventy three sergeants at Camp Blue. He was in charge of an offensive squad ‘The Red Devils Company,’ who Sergeant Davis considered in direct competition with his own squad, ‘Blue and White Company,’ for the best jobs. He was hated by everyone, especially his own men, with running odds within the camp as to who was the most likely to put a bullet in his head during a battle. By eye there was around two hundred soldiers, and a look at their uniforms suggested they were all sergeants. The room was busy, with around another thirty men dressed in regular clothes, a true snapshot of the male species. From the old to the young, and the fat to the thin.

  Ahead of the mass of bodies was a wooden stage, six feet off the ground. Three soldiers walked on from a door at the back, as the room hushed sensing their arrival. Two soldiers stayed in the shadows, as one walked to the front ‘Men, whatever you have heard about the coming battle, is a load of old horseshit. If you think we have already won this war, before it’s even started, you can fuck right out of my sight, you don’t belong here. Most people do not belong here, and most of you will not see much past tomorrow. You are all here as you have some experience of fire arms, but that alone will not put you in a uniform. If you are still standing after the following five days, you will be put forward for selection. Please exit by the door on the far left, and Private McCoy will take you to the boot room, where you will be given your uniform.’

  As the room started to empty of new recruits, leaving just seasoned military behind, Sergeant Davis spotting my hesitation, pointed to the floor by his side.

  ‘Sergeants’ declared General Morris, as one officer stood next to him handed him a sheet of paper. ‘We have a few discussion points this morning, before we get onto the main subject of Kuru. First, Sergeant Quinn, I have spoke to you about your squad and the security of this camp, and yet I am having to bring this subject up again. Can you explain to me what the fuck you are doing?’ The room fell silent, as Sergeant Quinn tried to respond.

  ‘I assume you’re referring to Private Ward, who fell asleep on his post again last night. He will be dealt with severely.’

  ‘This is not the first time, if it happens again Sergeant Quinn it will be the last, do you understand?’

  ‘Yes sir.’

  ‘Sergeant Charles, arrests of Torriero’s men seems to have tailed off, what is the situation?’

  ‘During the month of October we had thirty four arrests, and in early November we were expecting a similar total. But the last two weeks have seen no arrests sir.’

  ‘How many more prisoners can we safely hold?’

  ‘We have a total number of arrests, one hundred and twenty seven, with room for probably another one hundred.’

  ‘As the enemy do not appear to be surrendering in the same number, I want you to break off from your attempts on extending the prison area, and concentrate on Torriero’s movements. We have had reports from within Torriero’s camp, that they’re planning an attack on Security Post Whiskey, possibly as early as next week. Take a six man team, and keeping your distance, peg where their vehicles and men seem to be heading. Also, I want an update on how many men they have fighting for them, the last figure of two thousand is a month old.’

  ‘Yes sir.’

  Sergeant Davis explained that Camp Blue camp had an undercover officer that had infiltrated Torriero’s army, and sends back information, but as yet that information has been hit and miss. The identity of this individual was top secret, only the generals of Camp Blue knew who he was.

  ‘Why doesn’t he just take Torriero out?’ I asked.

  ‘If he does, he would have to plan it down to the finest detail. It would be a suicide mission, Torriero has his men around him at all times, if you make an attempt, you better not miss. If you get caught, I don’t want to imagine what they’d do to you.’

  ‘Sergeant Welsh, I have a new job for you.’ Snapped General Morris.

  ‘Yes sir,’ he enthused, sending a sly grin in Sergeant Davis’ direction.

  ‘The hotel has three thousand rooms, the camp is almost at full capacity, with-’ He looked over his right shoulder, to the soldier stood by his side, who approached and spoke into his ear, before he continued. ‘We can only take another two thousand people, I need a team to set up another camp at location D, which I believe was scouted by ‘Red Devils Company.’

  ‘That’s correct General Morris.’

  ‘I want you to take a six man team, and secure the building, before clearing the surrounding area of any of Torriero’s men. We need a new location up and running within eight weeks.’

  I hadn’t realised the hotel was as big as it was, Sergeant Davis explained it had been built in the nineteen eighties, by a Latvian multi millionaire, who wanted to transform Blackpool into a ‘Little Vegas.’ The recession, and subsequent bankruptcy of Blackpool put the mockers on that plan, the hotel has since sat empty for years. General Morris opened the room for questions, of which there was only one.

  ‘Sergeant Livsey, The Terriers Company. Do you have any further reports from the team sent out to observe the large aircraft over Birmingham?’

  ‘Information is still thin on the ground regarding the aircraft. All we know is it’s around the size of two football pitches, and travels at a very slow speed. It was first reported hovering over Cardiff, and has since been spotted over Bristol, Oxford and Coventry. It has remained in the sky over the respective areas for days at a time, seemingly idle, what it’s doing we don’t as yet know.’

  ‘If it became hostile, are we in a position to act?’

  ‘We will continue to observe it, and if action is needed we are in a position to do so, with around ten operational tanks at our disposal. We have also received confirmation from The Blades Company, that Century Mill in Sheffield was being used to house females, before they were killed, and then their bodies disposed of. This brings the current total of mills to fifteen, with still a couple of sites to check. An operation to destroy all mills used for this purpose will be made a priority, hopefully as soon as we have a complete picture.’

  General Morris then moved onto the main subject of kuru, the reason we were all gathered here. ‘Davis, I want you to take ‘Blue and White Company’ and complete a reconnaissance mission fifty miles south west of Edinburgh, in a hundred mile radius, and see if you can find any evidence of kuru.’

  ‘We have received new intel from Nathan Driver,’ Sergeant Davis responded, turning to point me out to General Morris. ‘He has witnessed first hand, cannibalism and humans displaying the signs of kuru, on his journey down from Scotland.’

  ‘Speak up son, what did you see?’

  ‘I saw people at different stages of the disease, in groups and on their own. Camps where they would feast on the bodies of children, drinking and celebrating like they were eating a pig. The remains of bodies, half eaten, sometimes there were only bones left.’

  General Morris turned around and walked to the soldiers behind him, where they talked for a few minutes, but we were unable to hear the conversation. After a short discussion, he returned to the front and continued.

  ‘I’m sorry to have to put your company forward to front such a dangerous job again, so close to the last one where you suffered a casualty, but I feel ‘Blue and White C
ompany’ are the best equipped team to head this operation. I am giving you permission to use deadly force, to rid this disease and all infected. Have you filled the empty position within your team?’

  ‘I was hoping I could convince Driver to try for selection’ he said, turning to face me.

  ‘I don’t know’ I replied, not enjoying being put on the spot. ‘I have only just arrived. I would need to speak to the children before I made any discission.’

  ‘You need to complete at least four days basic training Mr Driver, and I want ‘Blue and White Company’ to move out on the third, which gives you until the morning to make your decision, and complete your training, with enough days to finish.’

  ‘I will speak to them at breakfast, and give you my decision by the end of the day.’

  With that the meeting ended, and the room emptied. I walked back down to the first floor with Sergeant Davis, and talked about my reservations. He understood it was a hard decision for a man in my position, who had only just arrived, and had children who relied on him. In our room, the children were all up, and Bernard was washing them with the water from the bath. ‘I’m using the bottled water for their teeth,’ he said, holding their toothbrushes over the sink as he poured water over them. Emma washed her mouth out with the bottled water, and spat it into the sink. ‘Hi dad’ she said, running over to give me a hug. ‘I had the best sleep ever.’

  ‘That’s great’ I replied, turning to the brothers, ‘Did you both sleep well?’

  They nodded their heads as they brushed their teeth. We got the children dressed and walked down the corridor to the dining hall, remembering to bring our food cards.

  The cards had our name, age, room number and floor written on. It also listed Sergeant Davis as our camp representative.

  At the entrance, the solider signed them and we headed in. The room was around the same size as the bar opposite, down the left hand side was a line of gas hobs, each with its own canister, and an army cook preparing the breakfasts for our floor. The rest of the room was covered with five rows of tables and chairs filling the floor. ‘Look dad,’ said Emma, running to the first table. ‘It’s Beth and Nancy, can we sit with them dad, please?’

  ‘There’s not enough places for all of us’ I replied, acknowledging their dad, who smiled back. We sat at a table three down from them, and Bernard and I queued for the breakfast, which we brought back to the table. Fried corned beef, beans in tomato sauce and toast. For a few moments I pondered how to bring up the subject of me leaving, before just coming straight out with it. ‘I have to ask you all something, I don’t think you’re going to like it but I’m going to ask anyway.’ They all looked at me, waiting for my news. ‘I have been asked to try out for Sergeant Davis’s Company, and join them on a mission.’

  ‘We’ve only just got here’ retorted Emma, with a concerned look on her face. ‘I don’t want you to go.’

  ‘I didn’t think you would’ I replied. ‘But I think it’s something I must do for peace of mind.’

  ‘What’s the mission?’ Bernard asked. I told him what it would entail, and why I felt like I needed to be involved.

  ‘I still have nightmares about what I saw in the Pentland Hills, it made me sick to the stomach. I also feel helping to destroy it will bring me some closure.’ The boys remained silent through the whole of breakfast, but Emma told me exactly how she felt about it, and she was not happy. But I told them, they would be so busy with fun things to do, they wouldn’t miss me at all. Bernard told me not to worry about the children, he would be fine looking after them. We finished our breakfast at around ten to ten, and headed to the third floor for the newcomers meeting. The room was busier than the early meeting, with all types of humanity accounted for. There were males and females, from old to young. The room was buzzing with excitement and apprehension. It quietened down as four soldiers arrived on the stage, and formed a line in front of us.

  ‘Welcome to Camp Blue, I’m excited to see so many new faces. My name is General Brown, I’m in control of the overall running of the camp.’ General Brown was an older looking general, maybe the oldest gentleman I have seen in uniform. He had short grey hair, in a side parting, and a full bushy grey moustache, to complement it. He had a bit of a belly on him, the kind you get when you no longer need to look after yourself quite as carefully. Sergeant Davis told me later that General Brown was five years retired, and came back to offer his support after the attack. It was a testament to the respect he had amongst the men that he was offered the position of Camp General, and a testament to the man he accepted it. He walked along the stage introducing the remaining soldiers. ‘This is General Morris, he is in charge of the offensive army and security. General Clarke is in charge of the day to day running of the hotel and General Harris is in charge of the camps supply runs. As you will be aware, this camp only runs because everyone works for a common goal, and that goal is about to change. Camp Blue has been about protection and survival, but the war is changing. There is a battle approaching, and it will decide what happens to us all, and our children. We will do everything in our power to avoid a war, if Torriero wants to talk we will talk, but we have to be prepared to fight. That’s why we ask that everyone who has experience with fire arms, be put forward to army training. That training should really last eighteen months, and we’re having to do it over a week, but in that week we will assess who will be able to fight, physically and mentally. Not everyone will, in fact only ten to twenty percent will be put forward for selection, but you could still have another important role, whether it be training other recruits or the recon of possible targets. When the Camp introduction has been completed by General Clarke, could those with weapons experience make their way to the left side of the room, where General Morris will talk you through the process, all others should stay where they are to speak to General Clarke about other available roles in more detail. All those under the age of seventeen will be introduced to the day activities, by Mrs Brownhill, who was the head teacher at St. Augustines Secondary School, Blackpool. Thanks for your time, I’ll now let General Clarke talk to you about the camp in a bit more detail.’ General Clarke was a tall, athletic looking solider, still a formidable looking man at an age somewhere over fifty.

  ‘Morning, as you will have already received an introduction to the camp on arrival, I’ll keep this short. As a camp, our first aim has been survival, and as we have got bigger, we have gained strength. The camp works because we are organised, and that is what will win this war. We’ve over one thousand, two hundred females in this camp, the largest known concentration in this country and growing. Torriero wants our females, your mothers, wife’s, sisters and daughters. He will attack us, but we’ll be ready, and we all must play our part. We have a meeting in this room at six o’clock, straight after dinner. In this meeting the next days work is prioritised, and the food vouchers and fresh water handed out. If you have any problems, this is your time to be heard. One member of your room must attend this meeting, every day. Failure to do this will result in punishment. If you have any further questions, just speak to your camp representative, they should be able to handle most queries. The road has been hard on you, if you have lost essentials, the store room is located in the basement. In there you’ll find everything from spare clothes to towels, and footwear to washing and cleaning products. The room is updated daily, with supply runs sent out regularly. Mrs Brownhill will now take the new children to meet the others, who are already enjoying the days activities, they can be picked up from this room at four forty five, so you can take them to dinner.’

  A very attractive lady appeared through a door to the left, she had long blond hair and thin glasses. She was striking, but maybe my lack of female company over the past few years was clouding my judgement somewhat. I knelt down on one knee next to the children, so I could look them in the eye as I spoke. ‘You go and have a good time, and we’ll see you at dinner.’

  ‘You’ll still be here tonight won’t you dad?’


  ‘Yeah, I wouldn’t go anywhere without telling you, can you look after the boys for me?’

  ‘Yes’ she replied, moving between them and put her arms around their shoulders.

  ‘I think I’ll just introduce them to Mrs Brownhill, I said to Bernard. He smiled and remarked ‘Oh, I thought you might.’

  I smiled back at him, but he knows my type, it’s pointless trying to hide it. Most of the children seemed hesitant to leave their loved ones, so we were the first to meet Mrs Brownhill.

  ‘Who have we got here?’ She asked.

  ‘My name is Emma and I’m seven.’

  ‘Well hello Emma, nice to meet you. What are your lovely brothers called?’

  ‘They are not my brothers, we found them, in a tower. But I look after them, my dad says they are part of our family now.’

  ‘That’s very nice, your dad must be a special man.’

  ‘Yeah, he’s the best dad.’

  James and Josh couldn’t be coaxed into speaking, so I introduced them.

  ‘This is James and Josh Mrs Brownhill.’

  ‘Oh please, call me Lauren.’

  ‘Hi Lauren, my name is Nathan.’

  ‘Hi, don’t worry Nathan, I’ll make sure they have a smashing day.’ I watched them disappear down the corridor, as more children picked up the courage to join. There was a table by Mrs Brownhill, with the newcomers identification passes laid out in rows, displayed by floors, and then room numbers. I found ours, removed the rubber band, and checked everybody’s details. The ID cards were credit card size, with a photo on the front, and the details on the back. The boys had been listed with surname Driver, which is probably for the best. I gave Bernard his card, and put the rest in my pocket. We waited for our turn to speak to General Morris, who remembered me as soon as he saw me.

  ‘Driver isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes sir, this is Bernard, he’s ex army, I think he could be useful for training.’

  ‘Really, what regiment?’