Fall of the Cities: Planting the Orchard

by Vance Huxley

  “Done this a lot, have you?” Casper was a bit wary as he asked.

  “Last time I gave the job to a couple of squaddies, and I didn’t actually kill the bloke. It was a good grounding though.”

  “Liz said soldier, though she didn’t say you were bossing them about.” Casper looked again at the bodies. “You didn’t shoot this lot.”

  “I used this stick and a blade. This is where I won the machete.” Harry glanced back at the flats. “If we slide the packages into the truck bed and then chain one of the wrecks to the back we can drag it away.”

  Casper eyed up the two burned out cars. “Why?”

  “That’s our excuse for being out here. Not only that but these three snuck up on me using these wrecks while I was opening the garage.” Harry waved across at the part melted plastic. “The others came from there but ran away.”

  “So would I.” Casper grinned because Harry’s look showed he didn’t believe it. “So exactly why wouldn’t the rest like knowing these three are dead?”

  “They’ll rely on me too much, and get too confident. One of them might push it at the wrong time. Then if I go down they’ll break and get slaughtered.” Harry bent over the bodies. “Whew, take a breath before you get nearer.”

  Casper took a tentative sniff. “This will cost you.”

  “What exactly?”

  “That machete thing. I’ve never used a gun but the next bastard who comes for me with a baseball bat is going to get a hell of a shock.” Casper’s grin was still ghastly, and more so now with the evil leer.

  “Deal.” Harry thought that Casper with that blade would be a big comfort at his back. At least he knew Casper would actually use it if necessary.

  Chapter 7:

  Breakout –On the Lam

  Sharyn and Harry were watching the late news when once again the local area made the headlines. “That’s the big junction to the motorway. They can’t be serious.”

  Harry agreed with Sharyn’s sentiments, but those were Army engineers putting down wire and installing concrete blocks. “Necessary because of the breakdown of law and order? Why not send the soldiers in?” Harry waved at the TV and winced. He’d got some lovely bruises and his arm and leg were still very sore. “There’s a pattern and I’m wondering if someone has a list. A list that the engineers are working down, because we are the seventh big population centre to be sealed off.”

  Sharyn was startled. “You mean it’s pre-planned? Why?”

  “I don’t know but I’m going up to the roof.”

  “That’s a better view.” Sharyn pointed at the TV.

  “Not of what the rest of the city is doing. They are going to go crazy out there according to what happened elsewhere.” Harry heaved himself to his feet and took his stick to lean on. “Do you want to come? We can get Susan to sit in here.”

  “No, I’ll watch this.” Sharyn smiled. “Susan might have a visitor and want some privacy.”

  “Really?”

  “Rumour is strong that Rob was seen nipping in there. But he didn’t have a toothbrush, so they might just be watching TV.” Sharyn lost her smile as she looked back at the TV, where a crowd was confronting the Army. Then the scene cut to a flood of vehicles pouring over another section of the bypass and heading into the countryside. The helicopter camera zoomed in on a guard post with no soldiers in evidence. Hundreds of people on foot were also streaming past.

  “The Army will seal that off with prejudice.” Sharyn glanced up, startled at Harry’s tone. “When anyone overran an Army post round London, the brass sent in tanks.”

  “Oh crap.”

  “Yes, exactly. I might be a while depending on what’s happening.” Harry limped out of the door and made his way to the roof.

  Casper was already up there, as were a dozen other residents including Rob and Liz. Harry looked around the horizon and his attention was drawn south. There was a hell of a battle going on that way, with tracers hammering down from aloft into the middle of the melee. “That’s where the news showed the first wire going up.”

  “Though nothing is happening yet where the lines of cars were pouring through. Which seems strange.” Rob was puzzled and Harry agreed, because around London any breakout was a priority for the Army. “There was some shooting up north as well for a while, and a hell of a firefight in the city centre. That was cut short because there were some big explosions.”

  Everyone ducked as two aircraft came over very low, heading south, and then explosions echoed in the fighting there. “Those sort of explosions,” someone pointed out. “Bombs for Christ’s sake.”

  “I was considering trying to join that stream of cars after seeing the TV, but I’d have to get past that.” Liz pointed at a patch of light where flames were leaping into the sky. “That’s a big council estate and there must be a war breaking out there. Their own personal hell.” She looked around the horizon. “There isn’t a clear way out from here.”

  Harry looked around, as did the rest, and they started to compare notes. The conclusion was chilling when he voiced it. “All the big housing blocks, the social housing, are either on fire or there’s a battle going on there. There’s fighting in between, but they are the most serious. Down south it’s spread, joined up, and presumably the inhabitants tried to leave.”

  A storm of tracers erupted to the west. “One of those escape routes on the TV has just been cut off.” Flames leapt into the air. “What the hell is that?”

  “That, Obe, is napalm.” Harry looked back at the staring faces. “They’ve burned a section of that stream of people to stop the rest. Think Beirut, Gaza, Ramallah, any of those Middle East war zones.”

  “But they’re English, the refugees. They didn’t burn refugees in the Middle East.” Obe was a solidly built man with a tight mop of pure white frizzed hair but he looked frail, shrunk in on himself. His eyes and teeth were stark in his dark face as he looked from one person to another. “They can’t do that.” The latter was a whisper though, because flame gushed skywards in the middle of the fighting to the south.

  “What happens now? Now that we’ve been penned in with the rioters and criminals?” Casper looked over at a fresh outburst of firing, once again out towards the new city boundary. The wide strip of tarmac making up the ring road encircled most of the conurbation and was now a ring of steel. “How on earth do the shops get food?”

  “How do the markets get any more fresh produce? The allotments can’t provide enough.” Susan had arrived and went across to Rob, then put an arm round him. The gravity of the situation was driven home by nobody even mentioning the first public display of affection between them. Not even when Rob hugged her close.

  “The TV said there were arrangements in the other places that were sealed in.” Several heads nodded, but nobody could remember details. Then they tried to remember what was actually said, and there hadn’t been details.

  “We could phone them, one of the other cities.” Louise looked round. “If anybody knows a number? Or phone up a shop of some sort.” Three people headed off downstairs.

  “We should get as much food in as possible.” Harry remembered having to scavenge in London, and the number of supermarkets closed and usually looted. If that happened here food would get scarce, very fast.

  “We’d better go together. Both vans and the truck?” Rob was looking at Harry, who nodded. “What about a chemist? To buy as many plasters and cough medicines as we can.”

  Billy, a redundant clerk, looked around. “Maybe we can get some for Finn’s Mum, and the rest.” Mary was always Finn’s Mum to the residents. “We should get a list of everyone’s prescriptions and try to buy it.”

  “We’ll need to pool money for that, and to build up a stock of food.” Liz put a hand in her back pocket and then waved something. “Here’s my card. Abuse the hell out of it and I’ll argue with MasterCard if we survive.”

  “Maybe we should all abuse the plastic. It’s not like they’re going to arrest us, is it?” That was a stunne
r from Louise, who was generally considered a quiet type. Except for her brief foray into hurling furniture. “They didn’t even send the police round when I tried to brain that moron using my bedside cabinet. I hereby donate whatever meagre resources Visa will part with before they shut me down.” A round of agreement followed.

  More sombre news came when the three attempting to phone other cities came back. The landlines were accepting local calls only. Any prefix outside the immediate area simply didn’t make a connection. Harry remembered that he hadn’t been able to phone Sharyn from London. A quick round of discussion confirmed that nobody had managed to phone out for a couple of months. Everyone just assumed a temporary problem since the internet and mobile phones weren’t working at all.

  When Harry finally limped downstairs the fight to the south was still going strong, and fires were burning here and there across the city, big fires. There were numerous smaller ones and no sign of the gunfire ending. Sharyn came for a hug when he came into the flat. “The TV showed a mob attacking the refugees at one of the crossing points. Then there were explosions and flame and the refugees were caught up in that. The camera didn’t show the place after that.”

  She shuddered. “Another hospital burned and I don’t know if it was the one we are supposed to use. I usually complain about the TV closing down so early, but not tonight.”

  Harry told her what had been said on the roof, and they went to their beds. It might have been because he was thinking over tonight’s chaos, but Harold didn’t dream. Maybe bad things cancelled each other out?

  * * *

  Finn shook his head in despair. “You warned us, Harry, but this is so quick.” This was the second supermarket the little convoy had visited and the place was a shambles. The windows were smashed and there were scattered and broken packets and tins all over the car park. Even at that it was better than the burned out shell of the first.

  “I came here yesterday. What if they’re all gone? All the shops?” Mr Baumber looked around at the mess. “How do we eat?”

  “There will be food inside. In fact, if you look round some of what’s been dropped will be useable. Load up and don’t be fussy.” The rest looked at Harry. “I saw this in London. The first lot are a mob and just grab and run. All the booze, fags and fresh meat will be gone. There’ll be spuds and cans of beans in there, batteries and tissues and maybe milk. Maybe even frozen food since this happened last night.” A man and woman came out with full carrier bags, took one startled look at the four vehicles and the group, and ran.

  “That’s stealing.” Rob didn’t sound totally convinced.

  Liz laughed. “We were going to use credit cards we can’t pay off. This just cuts out the middleman.” She headed over towards the shopping trolleys. “Who’s got a quid for a trolley? Bloody marvellous. We’re going to rob the supermarket but I can’t unchain a trolley without a quid in the slot.” The rest were laughing now because Liz was right.

  Rob stayed with the vehicles after a bit of thought, because they obviously had fuel and that might be a target. He had a rifle and an air pistol which, as he pointed out, he couldn’t use. Though the rifle and the van hooter should let everyone else know there was a problem. Inside the supermarket there were about a dozen people, in pairs at the most, collecting food. All were looking furtive and kept well clear of the chattering group of six.

  * * *

  “That’s it. We can’t fit anything else.” Finn looked round at the almost empty shelves where he was stood. “You were right about the drugs. Someone has taken the lot.”

  “Not the plasters and antiseptic cream and suchlike. Just the bottles and pills. I have visions of someone trying to get high on some of that stuff.” Casper was smiling.

  “Cough medicine will do it I was told. Though it probably takes dedication. I’ve taken a lot of condoms and birth pills just in case we have an orgy.” Liz smiled at the startled faces. “I’ll be really pissed off if I find a blacksmith needing shelter and have to stay platonic.” She scowled at her trolley full of milk containers. “All this milk is skimmed. Drinking that except in coffee will take real dedication.”

  “Tinned milk here. Evaporated and condensed.” Harry grinned as Liz promptly unloaded some of her milk and threw in tins instead. “Skimmed is good for you.”

  “My gran had a book that said it was only fit for pigs.” Liz headed for the doors. “Come on Casper, use all that muscle to help me get this outside.” Casper obliged as each trolley was manoeuvred over the lip of the broken door.

  Rob reported that two separate cars had come in, looked at the vans, and left when he’d let them see he was armed. More people were drifting across the car park as the small convoy left after a second trip inside. Some arrivals headed inside but others were picking over what was scattered outside.

  * * *

  Finn took Harry to one side when they arrived back. “Were the chemist shops looted in London?”

  “Yes, every one.” Harry realised where this was going. “Sharyn wasn’t sure which hospital caught fire.”

  “Not caught fire. It was attacked, robbed and burned down. That was the wrong one for Mum. Can we look for pharmacies please, Harry? Before it gets urgent?” There was an edge of panic in Finn’s voice.

  “I’m up for it if we can raise an escort.” Harry raised his voice. “Who’s up for a pharmacy run?”

  “We should do as Billy said. Get a proper list together.” Rob looked at Finn. “If you can wait.”

  Finn smiled. “Tomorrow will be fine. No problem. I’ll use the directory and ask Toby to try the internet so we’ve got a list of possible places.” Everyone went back to carrying bags and boxes into the lifts.

  * * *

  “We’re too late. That’s the fourth and that isn’t smash and grab. They’ve been deliberately emptied except maybe the burned one.” Finn kicked at a few packets on the pavement. “The real painkillers, the prescription stuff, is all gone. So are the headache pills for Christ’s sake. This mess was just looters coming for the dregs afterwards.” He looked at the rest of the group. “What if we can’t find anything?”

  “Then we make a run across town to a surviving hospital.” Harry didn’t fancy that.

  “After last night? There wasn’t such a big fight down south, but we could see fighting all over the city. Then there were the attempts to break out.” Those were easy to see. Tracers, a lot of them, and then planes or helicopters and fire blossoming, all in concentrated areas out near the city perimeter.

  “There’s five shops more on the list. Let’s go.” Rob was nervous because a small crowd was gathering at the end of the street. The convoy had already found two roads barricaded off by determined residents.

  Everyone was getting really worried when the seventh shop had been gutted. The next to last on Finn’s list was a small place with heavy iron shutters that seemed to be intact. The sign above the shutter had been spray painted to obliterate any hint as to what the shop was. “Are you sure it’s a pharmacy?”

  “Yes, according to Toby though this one wasn’t in the directory. I reckon the spraying is self-defence.” Finn shrugged. “I’ll go and bang on the door.”

  The small convoy stayed back as Finn walked down the street and banged on the door. There was some shouting that nobody could make out and Finn beckoned. “He wants to know who is in charge. I told him you were.”

  Harry stared, then decided to let it ride. No point arguing here so he shouted at the door. “Can you fill out prescriptions if we pay?”

  “Who are you lot?”

  “Residents of a block of flats. We’ve got old folk in there.”

  “Just prescriptions. You have to pay.”

  “No problem.” Harry turned. “Sharyn, your card is needed.” Sharyn had volunteered her credit card for this one, for the medicines.

  “Just four of you, two women and two men. Leave those guns outside. Wait two minutes and then open the door.”

  Inside the place was gloomy because on
ly the lights at the back were on. There was a large young man stood by the counter with a cricket bat, and an older man behind him who spoke up. “Give me the prescriptions please.”

  There was some shuffling of the papers and then most went back onto the counter. “Most of these have been used so I can’t fill them. You’ll need new ones from the doctor.”

  “There is no doctor!”

  Harry put a hand on Finn to calm him. “Let the man do what he can.” They waited as the chemist went through a door and the young man watched. The older man came back with the familiar paper bags with the prescriptions stapled to them.

  “I have given you a substitute for two of these because we haven’t the exact medicine in stock. Unfortunately there aren’t any deliveries any more.” He took the credit card and put it in the slot, and waited for the contact to go through. Which it did which was weird given the restriction on calls.

  “What about the rest?” Finn gestured at the heap of rejected prescriptions.

  “Get current ones and if I’ve still got any stock, I’ll fill them.” The machine beeped and the card was handed back to Sharyn. “Unless we are discovered before then.”

  “No. You fill them now!” Finn pulled the air pistol from the back of his belt and pointed it at the chemist. “We’ll pay but my mum isn’t dying while I try to find a doctor.”

  Harry opened his mouth to object, to point out there was time to find somewhere, and the young man raised his cricket bat. Before anyone else could react Liz brought her air pistol out from under her coat and put it to the young man’s head. “Just stand very still please.” The young man froze and the chemist raised his hands.

  Harry sighed and took the cricket bat from the man’s unresisting hands. “You’ll get it back when we leave.” Then he turned to Liz. “Why?”

  “The pistol? Because I wasn’t coming in here unarmed even with a soldier boy. Then when Finn started it seemed the simplest thing to do. To stop a fight.” She gave a sad smile. “You’re a bad example.”

  Sharyn spoke up. “Fill the prescriptions please and I’ll still pay. Enough for a month for each one and more if you can do it.” She put her card back on the counter. “One of us will come back there with you, so you don’t lock yourself in. We don’t want to have to smash your door. Does that sound reasonable?”