Don didn’t have an answer so Robert began to pace around the cave. There were families there; some ill and most hungry. He turned to Don. “Prince and the soldiers are coming; most of these people will be prisoners for their cause. Men like us they will want for soldiers; God knows what he will do with the rest.” Robert gave a young child a sweet that he had in his pocket. As he paced around all eyes were on him. “We need to find better shelter and food; we have to get food for everyone.” Rob drank some water from a bottle that had been pinched from Tesco’s. There were a few supplies in the caves that the people had managed to bring with them or nick from shops. “Get some water, lads, and have a minute,” Robert then ordered, taking another sip of his own as he thought hard. Robert scratched at his chin as he said, “We need to find lots of these caves, make them safe. Then we will take food from the ones that have food coming out of their ears. Then we will go and find the people that are struggling and bring them to the caves; any that have been taken to the prisoner camps we will sneak in and break them out — that will give that idiot Prince and his brown noses lots to moan about. The only trouble is the caves are close to Sheriff and his soldiers; they even run under the castle, but it is the only option we have until we can find a better place or solution. Right who is with me on this?”
Robert looked at Don and the men, who looked at each other, and after a brief pause they nodded and Winston replied, “Why not, man? What have we got to lose?”
Robert carried on inspecting the caves, leaving the men to think about what he had said.
*
Bill knew Robert like the back of his hand. After all, they were from the same village, had served in the Marines together, watching each other’s backs on numerous occasions; they were like brothers and had gotten into all sorts of capers over the years. He looked at Adam to see what he thought about the master plan. Adam shrugged his shoulders then smiled, which told Bill that Adam would leave the decisions to Robert and Bill; Adam would follow them to hell and back. Bill had a few doubts over this plan of Robert’s; he agreed that something had to be done but he was a bit unsure about the safety of using the caves as he knew the punishment would be severe if they were caught. But Bill trusted Robert with his life and knew that if anyone could pull it off it was Robert. So of course he would be with him all the way, but he intended to have a face to face chat with him at some point to discuss the plan in depth.
Bill looked over at Robert, who was leaning against the cave wall while the others discussed places where they could get food from. Bill could see Robert was deep in thought about something which he suspected was Marion. He had never seen him like this over a girl; he never normally let himself get distracted. In fact, Bill thought hard about Robert’s past relationships and couldn’t even remember their names except for one, Sarah, who had wanted the full package with Robert: kids, marriage, mortgage, dog, the lot. But while Robert had liked her he didn’t want all that as his career in the Marines was everything to him; so that relationship didn’t end up lasting long.
Already, though, Bill could tell that with Marion it was different, she had bewitched him. Bill knew that Robert would want to do something about these people in need and about Prince thinking he could do what he pleased, but he could also tell that Robert couldn’t help but worry about Marion and would have to attend to that matter first.
Bill smirked as he watched Robert try to sneak away. As Adam drank water and talked with Don and the others Bill watched Robert slowly make his way to the entrance, trying to go unnoticed.
Bill followed suit and snuck up behind Robert, placing his hand on his shoulder. “And where do you think you’re going, pal?” he said.
“I’m going to the flat to get some things before the soldiers find it. Then I will look for better shelter for everyone.”
“You think we’re daft, Rob. Not thinking of looking for a certain Marion, are you? Well, we are coming with you; no arguing,” said Bill. Rob smiled.
“Who’s Marion? And count me in,” said Don, walking over after overhearing their conversation.
At that they left for the flat with Bill explaining the eventful time they had spent with Marion to Don.
*
Marion wiped the tears from her eyes as she looked out of the jeep window as it arrived at her uncle’s house. She was in a bit of pain from the cuts and bruises she had collected on her escape attempt, but she was angrier with herself for getting caught and involving Tuck, Bill, Adam and Robert in her mess. As soon as she thought of Robert she couldn’t help but break into a smile. He had seemed so good looking and mysterious as his face peered out at her from beneath his green hoodie top and she caught sight of his gorgeous blue eyes and warm smile. His whole presence had made her feel safe. She thought he was so kind and brave for aiding her, especially as other people she had asked for help on the way down had simply turned a blind eye, not daring to stand up to the Black Death. She wondered if she would see him again and hoped he had gotten away, which she was sure he would have done.
Her smile soon vanished as the jeep pulled up outside Sheriff’s mansion. Sheriff was stood in the doorway, his face awash with anger, but Marion also detected in her uncle a bit of relief at her safe return. She got out of the jeep and gingerly walked towards him; she put her head down, hoping to walk past without anything said.
Her uncle blocked the doorway so Marion couldn’t get by. “Marion, why do you do this? I want to protect you; like I always have, that is all.”
“And protecting me is sending me to my room, is it, Uncle? Locking me up? I am not ten! I want to go back to work in London.”
Sheriff’s smile had become a scowl. “I worry about you in these times, that is all, and London is unsafe at the moment. You’ll be fine here. I could get you a job here instead. There are plenty of injured soldiers to tend to. Why don’t you get some food? I have to go somewhere.”
It was clear to Marion that her uncle wasn’t listening and was becoming more deluded by the minute. So as not to make him more suspicious that she was up to no good Marion thought it best to play along with him. “Okay, Uncle; I am hungry,” she replied courteously and walked on past him.
“Just a minute, sweetheart; these men that helped you, who were they and where did they go?”
Marion’s heart nearly stopped, she knew her uncle would hurt anyone for trying to take her away. “I don’t know, Uncle. I ran into the market square and I fell, they helped me up. I only got one of their names, which was Richard. Then your goons showed up and tried to kill them so we ran. They were just passers-by who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Sheriff looked at her with such a distrusting expression. “Well, these passers-by killed a few of my men.”
“It was self-defence, they were getting shot at. Can I go for some food and a lie down please, Uncle?” Marion yawned and rubbed her cut arm.
Her uncle nodded. As Marion started to walk off Sheriff summoned one of the soldiers and she heard him say, “I want these men finding and bringing to me alive if you can, and make sure you lock her room and keep an eye on her.” He then went to get in the jeep.
Upon hearing all of that Marion’s legs nearly buckled but she managed to make her way in without drawing any attention to herself, trying to hold back the tears as she thought of Robert.
*
A week later Prince was due to arrive at Nottingham Castle while at the same time hundreds of soldiers were due to take residence at Wollaton Park and set up prison complexes there. These camps were being set up all over the country in unused airfields, farms, heritage sites and now it was Wollaton Park’s turn. They were very tightly run by a general and the Black Death. People that wanted to join the Black Death would be trained at the camps and people who disobeyed were imprisoned there. Old, rundown Portacabins that were full of bunk beds with dirty mattresses and bed linen filled the complexes. Food was good if you had joined Prince, while it was very scarce if you didn’t abide by his rule.
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sp; Robert, Adam and Bill had gotten their weapons and clothes from their flat just in time as soldiers had found it and destroyed it. They had tried to locate Marion but couldn’t get near. Robert had found out about Prince’s arrival from a soldier that they came face to face with the night they set off to the flat. He wasn’t a Black Death soldier, they would rather kill themselves than give away information, but someone who used to serve in the British army before joining Prince. This made him easier to question.
Robert and his men had tortured him into giving this information by, at first, dunking his head in the dirty river water. Robert wasn’t happy about having to act in such a way but he knew it had to be done for their survival; they had to stay one step ahead of their enemy. He had watched Bill punch the soldier constantly in the face to no avail, and then, when all looked lost, Don (who was armed with the biggest axe Robert had ever seen, its long handle had been taped up with black sports tape and the huge head had the word ‘enjoy’ written on it) had pushed the soldier to the ground, swung his axe over his head before bringing it down, cutting a big branch (that was laid on the side of the river) in half. He had then swung the axe again and smashed it down, missing the soldier’s head by centimetres. As he swung again the soldier had told them everything: how they were using places like Wollaton Park as camps to train people who wanted to join Prince’s revolution and those who refused to join were to be treated like animals. With another swing of Don’s axe the soldier had then told Robert that Prince was coming to oversee things and the castle was being prepared for his arrival that very moment. After Robert had squeezed all the information out of the soldier he had felt conflicted as he didn’t want to kill him in cold blood, but he also knew that the soldier now knew their faces. Bill pulled the soldier to his feet and was about to cuff him when the soldier pushed Bill and went to make a run for it. That time Don’s axe didn’t miss.
Currently, Mutch and Tuck were in charge of helping more homeless into the labyrinth of makeshift cave homes that they had developed underground; continuing the work they had been doing for the past week.
Robert and the others had spent the majority of the week approaching the homeless that were hiding in boarded up properties and taking them out of harm’s way. Some were reluctant at first, as trust was becoming a hard to come by quality these days, but after they were shown photos of food and comforts on Robert’s men’s phones they were quickly won over. The word was soon spreading that a gang of men, led by a chav in a green hoodie, were providing safe havens for the unfortunate people of the city.
The rest of the week was spent putting up alarm and CCTV camera systems at every entrance and nook and cranny they could find. They had acquired all the gear from a B&Q that had recently closed with its entire stock still inside, and having a few electricians among their ranks had come well in handy. Don, Winston, Neil and Greg had set up booby-traps such as trip wires and nail bombs which were set like mines, buried or hidden in the floors, so that if some poor soul walked over them their body parts would be everywhere.
Adam had been in charge of disguising the ways in and out of their hideout. On Cliff Road there was an archway that led to some caves under the (now abandoned) Broadmarsh Centre and Adam had camouflaged it with an old, wrecked, unused lorry. He had even put a door into the caves through the lorry itself. Bill had been responsible for organizing his group of men to bring in beds, electrical gear, generators and whatever else they had pinched, found or brought with them.
*
It was now Monday 14th July and three weeks had passed since Robert had tried to help Marion. Darkness was setting in and Robert and his men were lying in wait in an abandoned house across from the roundabout near the A60 and A614 routes. They were waiting for a lorry that had food and supplies on it bound for Wollaton Park; information they had gained from Prince’s soldier, thanks to Don and his axe. Robert was in his green hoodie with hood up and a bulletproof vest underneath, holding the machete and gun he had taken from a Black Death soldier. His men were similarly attired except Don, who had his trusty big axe as well as a revolver he had bought on the black market.
Screech, who was a very skinny and lanky lad with a face covered in freckles and long, ginger hair, was the gang’s newest recruit. He had lived in Clifton with his elderly father before he had died, leaving him homeless with no other family to care for him. Robert and the gang had taken to him as he was brave, honest and in Don’s words ‘a good kid’; he was also a very fast runner. He was sixteen and when he spoke it was like a high pitched piercing sound; earning him his nickname. Screech had been hiding around the corner from the abandoned house. He rang Robert. “They’re coming; a jeep at the front and a lorry behind. Looks like four soldiers in the jeep; two in the lorry.”
“Okay, Screech, nice one; come back to your position — and be careful.” Robert hung up and ran to the top of the stairs in the abandoned house, looking at the targets through his binoculars.
“Right, lads, there’s a jeep, a lorry, six soldiers — positions.”
*
About an hour later Mutch and some other men who resided in the caves were pacing up and down at the Cliff Road entrance; they had expected Robert and the gang to have been back long ago. Mutch began to think to himself, what happens if Rob and the others have been caught or even killed? Who would take over? He knew deep inside that he would try, but he wasn’t a natural leader. Would it be the end of everyone? Would people be forced into joining Prince to save their lives? Mutch knew he would rather be dead than join him. All these thoughts and questions started to scramble his brain and worry him, but his worry soon turned to relief when he heard the screech of Don’s battered, old transit van coming around the corner.
Robert and his men jumped out with boxes of food and passed it to Mutch and his companions, who took them into the caves. The caves were now full of people that had once possessed every type of employment imaginable; from plumbers, electricians, builders, even people with medical experience to help everyone keep a clean bill of health. The caves were vast and quite damp but they were very well lit thanks to the electricians who had put lights up all along the walls. But it was starting to get cramped in there and such a large number of people in one space was causing problems from time to time with clashing of personalities along with people’s resentment at having their homes, way of life and pride ripped away from them; but as a whole they worked and existed together in fear of what could happen to them.
There was a big room with food and supplies. There was even a room with a big screen TV and DVD player (that was powered from one of the generators), which kept the children entertained. Robert and his men, thankfully all in one piece after the hijacking, walked through and began to recount their adventure.
Mutch took another box of food from Robert; he had a quick look in it and licked his lips at the sight of various biscuits and cakes. He then passed it to a woman whose job it was to store it properly. “Where you been, Rob? You had me worried, mate. I take it it wasn’t as easy as we hoped?”
Robert put his hand on his mate’s shoulder. “You worry too much, Mutchy; but yeah, they put up a bit of a fight.”
“Was it easy to get in the lorry then? How many men were there?” Annabelle, who came up and high-fived Robert walked with him and Mutch to help sort out the supplies and looked as intrigued as Mutch to hear Robert recount the story.
“So, there was a jeep, with four soldiers in, and a lorry with two in the front, right? And they came round the corner of the A60, well, you know them houses across from the garage?”
“Yeah, I know where you mean, the roundabout where you turn left onto the A60, right onto A614?” Mutch replied.
“Yeah, that’s it. Well, we were hiding in one of the abandoned houses for what seemed like an age — Adam read a month old edition of the Mirror twice.” Robert and Mutch laughed.
“Well, I shot at the jeep in front, killing the driver, which brought the lorry to a halt. We eventually shot the others
after they had hidden behind the jeep, firing at us; it turned into a bit of a battle. Then I shot the one in the passenger seat just as he was about to shoot Screech; it was close. The driver was a big lad, but Don soon sorted him out. Anyway, we were high fiving and that, Don even did a bit of a dance — we thought he was having a fit.” Annabelle laughed and Robert rubbed her head while Mutch opened a stubborn box that a young woman was struggling with.
“Anyway, let’s just say it was a good job Bill was on the ball. It took Don a good five minutes to get the doors of the lorry open and as he pushed them up, as luck would have it, he stumbled to the ground. There were four soldiers in the back and I thought we had had it, to be fair, Mutchy, as we had put our weapons away. Just as the soldiers cocked their guns there were shots fired and the four soldiers were laid slain. There, stood behind us was Bill holding his rifle, which was smouldering.”
Mutch shook his head, Annabelle gasped. “It’s a bit too close for comfort, ain’t it, Rob?”
“We got away with it today, mate, thanks to Bill. Now we know we have to keep our eyes on the ball at all times.”
“Here you go, Annabelle,” said Robert as he passed her some food. Robert had known Annabelle and her family for a few years now as he used to live on the same street as them. Mutch watched Annabelle’s eyes well up as she was overjoyed at his safe return; she had always loved Robert and he her. He had been in her life as far as she could remember; she loved to play with him and was grateful for what he had done for her family, especially since they had become homeless. She gave him a peck on the cheek and a big hug before running off to watch Frozen with some other children.
*
The next day, at Nottingham Castle, Sheriff was at the gates, waiting for the arrival of Prince. The castle was now set up for Prince to use as an operations outpost; it had all the technology needed to achieve this. Prince would be arriving with his generals and some valued MPs.
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