Aftermath: The Complete Collection (Books 1 & 2)

by John Wilkinson

  ‘Wake the remaining recruits up, I want you all on the parade ground in five minutes.’

  ‘Yes sir’ I replied, moving into action. I ran from tent to tent, shouting and shaking the canopies, not entirely sure which were occupied. Only seven of us remained after yesterday’s torturous day, with two recruits leaving last night as we slept. Myself, Cox, Harper, Wilson, Proctor, Jackett and Beck. The final two had quietly got on with the process, and were as strong a candidate as any of us. ‘Today is your final day in the process recruits’ said Captain Jones, as we all listened intently. ‘I know you had a terrible shock last night, after a demanding day both physically and mentally. But in war, people will die, your friends and comrades will die. Some in far more brutal and violent ways than what you witnessed yesterday. Hassan will be given a military funeral, and his wife and children will be taken care of. But the job for you is not complete, today you find out if you are to be put forward for selection, but for that, you must complete the days activities in a satisfactory manner.’

  We were dismissed, and ordered to wait for further instructions. We all sat by the camp fire, that Wilson had re-lit. As we talked, Hassan’s body was removed from the medical tent, on a stretcher. He had been placed in a body bag, and was carried by two soldiers towards the football stadium.

  ‘Adrian Harper’ shouted Lieutenant Higginson, as he approached our group. ‘Captain Jones wants to interview you in the medical tent.’ He waited until Adrian was on his feet, and then walked him back to the tent, as the rest of us waited our turn. Adrian was in the tent for around twenty minutes, before Lieutenant Higginson brought him back. ‘Your turn Wilson’ Lieutenant Higginson said, as Adrian sat down. Wilson stood up and was marched into the tent, as Adrian explained what happened. ‘It’s an interview’ he said, making himself comfortable by the fire. ‘Not sure how I did, the questions were a bit ambiguous.’

  Wilson walked out of the tent after only a couple of minutes, he made a bee line for us, followed by Lieutenant Higginson. ‘They’ve fucking kicked me out’ he snapped, aggrieved by the decision. ‘I don’t fucking believe it, after all I have been put through, to be thrown out at the final hurdle.’

  ‘You left your weapon unguarded on the battle ground Wilson. The worst thing a soldier can do, completely unacceptable.’

  ‘Bullshit.’

  ‘Collect your stuff Wilson, and remove yourself from the parade ground.’

  Wilson left, but argued the whole way. Proctor, Jackett and Beck took their turns with Captain Jones, before I took the final interview spot. I made my way to the tent, followed by Lieutenant Higginson, who sat down beside Captain Jones once inside. I moved the chair out, and sat down facing them. ‘Driver, how do you fit into a team?’ Asked Captain Jones, not wasting any time on formalities.

  ‘I’m a team player sir, always work hard for my comrades, always building their confidence and pushing them. I think I have proven over the past week, I’m forward thinking, a problem solver and mentally strong enough for this.’

  ‘When did you cry last?’

  ‘Probably before I found my daughter, through worry, or the thought of what I might find. Yeah, that was a hard time, not knowing.’

  ‘Do you think that makes you weak?’

  ‘Not at all.’

  ‘What is the most important thing in your life?’

  ‘My daughter, without question. The boys too, keeping them safe.’

  ‘Why are you here then?’

  ‘Because they are safe now, I have-’

  ‘Nowhere is safe.’

  ‘Well, as safe as they can be. I got them to the safest place I could, now I want to help make the country safe again.’

  ‘What’s the hardest thing you have ever had to deal with?’

  ‘The aftermath of my wife’s death, in a car crash, having to deal with that, telling Emma her mum wouldn’t be coming home.’

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

  ‘It’s fine, I’m fine now.’

  ‘In battle, how can I trust you?’

  ‘Over the past week I have proven I can handle it physically and mentally, making important decisions and using sound judgement.’

  ‘But could you kill, without hesitation, should you need to?’

  ‘I have killed, when someone needed to die, when there was no other way.’

  ‘Did you enjoy killing them?’

  ‘Not at all, I found no enjoyment in taking a life, but it had to be done.’

  ‘OK Driver, you are dismissed. Join the rest of your comrades.’

  ‘Thank you sir.’

  We sat around the fire and waited for any news, none of us sure if we had done enough. At around eleven am, Sergeant Davis arrived with news about Hassan’s family.

  ‘General Morris is talking to them at the moment, I think Shazia must have suspected something, she was very red eyed. How are you all dealing with it?’

  ‘We’re OK I suppose, not a lot we can do about it. Just waiting around now to see what’s gonna happen next.’

  After half an hour, around lunch time, we were called to the medical tent again, where we were all told we had passed. From a batch of thirty plus recruits on day one, we had been whittled down to six. Cox, Harper, Proctor, Jackett, Beck and myself. We were all put forward for different areas of the army; Proctor was moved into engineering (metalsmith), a position he had held at Rolls Royce, working on fighter jet engines. He would now be working on the camps vehicles, and any future military vehicles. Jackett and Cox both came from a professional driving background, Jackett a bus driver, Cox had a airport taxi business. They were both added to the driving roster for all military vehicles, including training in tank warfare. The camp has around ten tanks, two of which had been museum pieces pre war, sat outside the barracks in Fleetwood. Engineers had been working on the vehicles, and had now got them to a usable condition. The tanks were both Comet Cruiser Mark IX, Jackett and Cox would both start training for them tomorrow. There were also three companies out on missions to bring back tanks from other barracks, which were expected back next week. Beck had been a doctor at Preston General Hospital before the war, and was added to the field medics, a position I feel he will excel in. He is not a flashy soldier, he just gets on with the job in hand, quietly and efficiently. Adrian (Harper) and myself were recruited into the offensive army, with a request for my services already in by Sergeant Davis. ‘Blue and White Company want you to join them on a mission due to leave first thing the day after tomorrow’ said Captain Jones, standing up from his chair. ‘Are you ready for a real operation?’

  ‘Yes sir, I believe I am.’

  ‘Right recruits, you are all dismissed. Go and enjoy the rest of your day with your families.’ There will be light weapons training tomorrow morning Driver, then you’ll be formally introduced to your company in the afternoon.’ We all left the Medic tent, and headed into the hotel for lunch. There was much banter in the canteen, particularly with the chiefs who implied we were the ropiest set of recruits they’d ever seen. The mood and confidence was high, we ate up and headed our separate ways. Adrian and I decided to try and speak to Shazia, and see how she was doing. We climbed the stairs to the floor she had been working on, but the chiefs in the canteen said she’d been signed off for the foreseeable future. We tried her room on the first floor, where we found her, very red eyed. She’d clearly been crying recently, and didn’t really want to talk. We told her we were sorry for her loss, and if she needed anything she only had to ask. Hassan’s funeral was to take place tomorrow afternoon, a military funeral with just family, friends and a few officers. Shazia asked us if we would attend, to which we agreed. I am worried about her, she has lost Amid her eldest son, and now her husband. She still has three children who are going to need a lot of care and attention. I think I’ll ask Lauren to keep an eye on her and the children, if I see her before I go. Adrian and I went back to the parade ground, and packed our belongings back into our rucksacks, and took our tents down. By the tim
e we had finished, it was getting on for five o’clock, so we headed into the hotel for some dinner. There was a small queue forming outside the entrance, with a new set of newcomers anxious to get inside. As we walked past them, I could hear a multitude of accents, from brummie to geordy. They looked tired and dirty, much as we had the day we arrived. We headed to the entrance for the first floor, but Sergeant Davis spotted us and left his post to congratulate us. ‘Well done Nathan’ he said, shaking my hand and turning to face Adrian. ‘And you too Adrian, well done. I knew you were both army material.’

  ‘Thanks’ we responded.

  ‘I’ll leave you to it, I just wanted to say congratulations. Will you come for a celebratory drink tonight?’

  ‘I’ll probably give it a miss. I haven’t seen Emma and the boys for a few days. Probably just gonna spend the night with them.’

  ‘Sounds like a good idea, you do that, I’ll see you tomorrow.’

  We left Sergeant Davis on his post, and continued into the dining hall, where Mrs Brownhill was already waiting with the children. ‘Dad, you’re back’ Emma shouted when she saw me, as she ran around the tables to give me a hug, followed by the boys.

  ‘Have you missed me?’

  ‘Well-you haven’t been away that long’ said Emma, as the boys nodded their heads in response to my question.

  ‘I have been fine, and looked after the boys all by myself. You’re a bit skinny’ she remarked, standing back and letting go of me. ‘Why are you so thin?’

  ‘I just need a good meal in me, come on, let’s get some dinner.’ Bernard arrived, and took the children off my hands, allowing me to have a quick word with Lauren.

  ‘You OK?’ She asked, as I made my way around the tables to where she was waiting, with the children yet to be picked up.

  ‘I’m fine thanks.’

  ‘I’m sorry to hear about Hassan, he seemed a nice man.’

  ‘Yeah he was, it’s a shame. Would you be able to do me a favour?’

  ‘Of course Nathan, how can I help?’

  ‘I just want you to keep an eye on Shazia and the children for me, while I’m away. I’m not sure how she’s going to react to it.’

  ‘Not a problem, I’ll make sure they are fine. So are you leaving soon?’

  ‘Yeah I’m going on a mission the day after tomorrow, I’ll be gone a few days.’

  ‘OK, I’ll keep my eye on Emma too, and the boys. Is it a dangerous mission?’

  ‘Hopefully not, but these are unpredictable times, so we have to be prepared.’ I said good night to Lauren, and promised I would speak to her before I leave. As I found the table Bernard and the children were seated, Adrian waved to me, as he headed for the door with Max. I acknowledged him, before sitting down to eat my dinner. Bernard congratulated me on my selection, and told me my dad would be proud of me, which was nice. Everyone had finished their food and were waiting for me, so I threw it down my neck, and we headed back to our room.

  We past Sergeant Davis on the corridor, showing another set of travellers around, telling them how happy he was having the bar on his floor. I smiled at him, amused by his familiar rhetoric, which he acknowledged. Inside our room, I drew the curtains, as the darkness was claiming the outside.

  ‘What have you been doing for the last few days?’ I asked, sitting down on the bed and getting comfortable.

  ‘Nothing’ Emma replied nonchalantly.

  ‘Come on, I haven’t seen you for days, you must have done something interesting.’

  I looked at the boys for some input, but they just smiled, until James spoke up.

  ‘We have mostly been playing games, and learning stuff.’

  ‘Learning what?’

  ‘Just about war, different wars.’

  ‘Which wars?’

  ‘World War One and Two. Mrs Brownhill said children in the future will learn about this war in their school lessons.’

  I hope humanity can get back to the point where our children are learning in schools, but that seems a long way off right now.

  ‘It was too bloody much like school’ shouted Emma.

  ‘What have I told you about swearing?’ I snapped back at her, slightly taken aback.

  ‘All the children say bloody, and shit. They all swear, it’s not even that bad.’

  ‘You’re not the judge on what’s OK to say and what’s not, you just need to do as you’re told. And just because other children are swearing, doesn’t mean you should. I hope you haven’t been speaking like that in front of Mrs Brownhill?’

  ‘I haven’t.’

  ‘Good, you better not.’

  Bernard fell asleep in the chair by the window, so I got the children ready for bed, washed and teeth brushed. I had missed parenting them, I enjoyed every minute I spent with them. We all got into Emma’s bed, and lay silently listening to the hustle and bustle of the hotel, as people settled down for the night. I must have been content, because I dozed off for an hour or so, and woke up to find the children surrounding me asleep. I moved them all to their own beds, and began to write today’s diary entry.

  02/12/2027 - Time 22:00

  The children were up early this morning, ending any hope I had of a lie in. First they were climbing over me, then they noisily started playing snap with cards they had made yesterday in class. I tried to doze, but it was a waste of time. Bernard got up just before me, and was making some odd noises in the bathroom, much to the amusement of the children. We got ready and headed to the dinner hall for breakfast, where we sat next to an excited couple of girls, in Nancy and Beth. ‘Emma, Emma, Father Christmas is going to be coming in twenty three days’ said Nancy, struggling to contain her excitement. ‘Yeah and he is going to bring me a Jesse doll’ interrupted Beth, ‘I cannot wait.’

  ‘Is he going to come to the camp?’ Responded Emma, turning to face me.

  ‘I suppose he is’ I replied, trying to work out the logistics of such a problem in my head.

  ‘You know what I want don’t you dad?’

  ‘Do I?’

  ‘Yeah course you do. I want a smart phone.’

  ‘Well first of all, we’d discussed a phone and agreed when you are ten, however mobile phones and tablets don’t work anymore.’

  ‘Do they not, why?’

  ‘To be honest, it’s too hard for me to explain, just take my word for it. I think I can guess what Josh wants.’

  ‘I want a dinosaur whose mouth goes all the way to its stomach’ he replied without hesitation.

  ‘So it can eat your toy cars?’ I responded, as he nodded his head grinning.

  ‘What about you James? What is Santa Claus bringing you?’

  ‘Don’t know.’

  ‘You have a think about it then.’

  When breakfast was finished, I whisked the children into the meeting hall on the third floor, where Lauren took them off my hands, and Bernard and I headed back to the stadium to meet my new company. The main doors were open, so we walked straight through, acknowledging Officer Farrell who was on security. The sheets of plastic had been pulled up along the left hand side of the pitch, and were folded over onto themselves. Ash and grit was collecting on the top, and the ground was wet and muddy. We followed the vehicle tracks around the metal collection in the centre circle, towards the gun range. There we found nine Viking vehicles with their doors open, and men working on them, checking they were road worthy. There was also a very large group of men, in teams around their own vehicles.

  ‘See you in a bit’ said Bernard, as he continued towards General Morris, who was stood at a large desk, surrounded by soldiers. I searched for my company, until I spotted Rhino and headed towards Blue and White Company, who were sorting through their kit. I have to say, I was nervous as hell as I approached the huge group of blokes, who were loudly expressing their manliness. Sergeant Davis saw me coming, and left his men to meet me.

  ‘Private Driver’ he shouted, as he strode towards me. ‘It’s great to have you aboard Nathan, come and sort your kit out. Yo
u know the guys, Rhino, Keane, Little D and Murphy.’ I acknowledged everyone, before moving to the table, in front of the vehicle, where I found my kit. I unpacked everything, and re packed it. Took the gun apart and cleaned it, then put it back together again slinging it over my shoulder.

  ‘Right Men’ Shouted Sergeant Davis, as he waved his unit together. ‘Time for some weapons practice, before lunch. We are on the gun range first, followed by Clarets Company continuing clockwise.’ The men made their way to the gun range, and started firing at the newly updated targets. I was shaking a bit as I removed the L85A2 - carbine rifle from my shoulder, and proceeded to check the magazine and remove the safety. I brought the sights to my eye, and fired a few rounds off. I hit nothing, which made me panic even more. I could hear muffled laughing and felt it was aimed at me. I fired again, splintering the edge of the target, to the sounds of more laughter. I wiped the sweat from my brow, and fired a few more, into the centre. I dropped the gun and looked around, most soldiers were firing their own weapons, Keane smirked at me, but that’s to be expected. I’m gonna have to earn his respect the hard way, if possible. We spent around an hour on gun practice, by the end I had warmed up, and was hitting the centre with regularity. ‘The noob’s stats are better than yours Murphy’ laughed Keane, trying to get a rise from his comrade, but Murphy just ignored him, as most people did. They weren’t better, but I hadn’t embarrassed myself. I loaded my rucksack into the back of our vehicle, along with the other squad members. There was much back slapping, and manly rough and tumble, they’re a close knit company, and I’m going to have to work hard to be fully accepted. Lunch was put on for us in another part of the ground. We walked through the bowels of the stadium, along passageways covered in photographs of old football stars. I picked one up that had fallen to the ground, and brushed the broken glass off it. Stanley Matthews, I remember my dad telling me my grandad saw Matthews play, and what a great player he was, although he always ended the conversation by stating Tom Finney, a player for Blackpool’s local rivals, Preston North End, was better. We ended up in a large function room, that overlooked the pitch. There was a large wooden table in the centre of the room, that could sit maybe a hundred people. Around the edge of the room were wooden cabinets, with dusty football memorabilia. A clear plastic tarpaulin had been gaffer taped to the glass less window frame, and was flapping with the winds blowing around the open stadium. There was about sixty of us, sat around the table, as lunch was brought out. There must be a working kitchen within the stadium, as the food was still piping hot when it arrived. As we ate we discussed the upcoming mission, with many still not sure what we were going to find. After lunch we were dismissed for the afternoon, with a few of us heading to Hassan’s funeral. It took place on the parade ground, which had been cleaned up ready for a new set of recruits starting their training next week. Some of the camps highest ranking officers were present, including General Morris and Brown, with Lieutenant Higginson and Second Lieutenant Jackson also paying their respects. I stood with Adrian as Hassan’s body was brought from inside the stadium, along the road by the hotel, to where we were all gathered on the parade ground. All the recruits who had been present that fateful night, had stopped what they were doing to come and say goodbye to Hassan, including Cox, Proctor, Jackett and Beck. A few camp members stopped in the street, and paid their respect as his body past, carried on a stretcher, with a union jack flag draped over, covering the entire length of his body. The stretcher was carried by four soldiers, with another out front, banging a drum, and a last one following behind, firing a volley of shots in the air as a salute. A group followed behind, fronted by Shazia, Erina and Elma. Shazia was carrying Elma, who was leaning her head against her mums. She looked too young to know what was going on, but Erina was that bit older, and was crying her heart out. Shazia was red eyed but keeping it together, they looked really alone, with just a couple of others following behind. With no one having enough time to get to know the family, they cut a lonely figure. They followed the body as it slowly made its way to the parade ground, where a selection of service men were gathered, including myself. It stopped opposite a makeshift podium, where the camps resident vicar was stood. He read out a short passage from the bible, as the flag was removed from Hassan’s body, folded up and presented to Shazia. The sight of their dad was too much for Erina and Elma, who were taken back to the hotel by a friend. Hassan had been dressed in his army uniform, and looked healthier than he had before training. Like he was asleep, and could wake up at any moment. The procession then moved to the outskirts of the parade ground, where Hassan was to be buried. There were about thirty graves with wooden crosses knocked into the ground beside them. A hole had already been dug in which Hassan’s body was carefully placed, as the priest spoke the following words. ‘We therefore commit Hassan’s body to the ground. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life.’