Fall of the Cities: Planting the Orchard

by Vance Huxley

  * * *

  Harold indicated Sharyn. “Since nobody has a better suggestion, we are heading for where I first came in when I arrived to get Sharyn. There’s the best part of a private estate if it’s still standing, a big bit of reasonably open ground each side of the houses, and the Army overlook the place. The houses towards the city centre are wrecked and looked deserted. The Army is why I think those houses will still be standing.” Twenty six faces looked at Harry because Hazel and Patricia were looking after the four children too young to be here. Even Mary, Finn’s Mum, was here to cast her vote.

  Sharyn spoke up. “Patricia and Hazel are coming with Harry because they believe he’s the best bet.”

  “I’m with Harry.” Casper grinned. “Though he isn’t really my type.”

  “I’m coming too, otherwise you’ll find a blacksmith first and then I’ll cut my throat.” Liz was grim despite the joke. “I’ve already loaded my gear but there isn’t room for the ornaments.” That was true. Everyone had to leave all but essentials. Food was more important than clothing or ornaments right now, or even hand missiles.

  “I’ve got to bring Susan or Sharyn won’t have a babysitter.” Rob smiled and hugged the Susan in question.

  Finn laughed a harsh sound. “Mum will be upset if she never gets to ride on the pickup.”

  “Too true I will.”

  Toby stepped forward. “I’ve been conscripted.”

  “I’ve got a rep to keep up.” Karen smiled sweetly.

  “I’ve got to keep an eye on the residents.” Mr Baumber was looking at Karen.

  “Just raise hands if you’re with Harry.” Billy laughed. “No, to make it easier, any idiot not coming raise your hand.” There was a moment of hesitation from Isiah, Kerry, and Alicia but no hands went up.

  “Then lead us to it, soldier boy.” Liz sighed. “Why couldn’t you be bigger or Casper be straight, and then this would be perfect. Desperate flight with a big strong hero.”

  “We leave in fifteen minutes. If it isn’t in a vehicle, it ain’t coming with us.” Harry watched backs disappearing rapidly. “Are we packed?”

  Sharyn smiled. “You never unpacked. Anyway you just steal what you haven’t got.”

  “It’s a plan.”

  Chapter 8:

  Finding an Orchard

  “Thank all and every God for that.” Harry could see intact houses beyond the damaged estate.

  “Shush, you’ll spoil the aura of infallibility.” Sharyn sighed. “Though I am very relieved.” She looked either side of the approach road. “I don’t think much of the neighbourhood.” Many of the houses either side were burned and three were total ruins.

  “At a guess someone tried to break out over the bypass. At least there aren’t many cars and the road is open.” Twice the convoy had stopped to push wrecked cars out of the road, and four times they’d detoured around roadblocks. There had been threats but the number of rifle and pistol barrels stuck out of windows got them through.

  Harry was looking for the turn and voiced another quiet multidenominational prayer because it wasn’t barricaded. “We drive in nice and peaceful with the weapons out of sight, and talk to any residents.”

  There was a nervous giggle from the back seat, from Hazel. “Sorry, but you said that ten times already, to everyone. You also said the women had to get out so the Army and residents could see us.”

  “They do have to except Patricia since she is babysitting. Now we hope the houses aren’t all full.”

  “You said that as well.” Sharyn grinned. “You really are a fusspot aren’t you?”

  “Well everyone seems to think I’ve got all the answers.” Harry sighed. “Here we go.” He turned in and drove up the road until he could see the last vehicle pull in off the main road behind him.

  “Orchard Close. I like it. Sort of bucolic and homely.” Harry looked round, startled, and there was a sign on the garden wall. “That looks empty and just your size,” Sharyn pointed up Orchard Close to the big house at the end. “Providing it’s empty of course, but the garden is a hint.” Weeds were showing over the low wall.

  “Let’s deal with the locals before hammering in claim pegs.” Harry climbed out and so did Sharyn and Hazel. Patricia stayed in the back seat with Daisy and Wills. Women climbed out of other vehicles and stood by them.

  “Clear off!”

  “To where?” Harry turned and an old man was stood in a doorway with a big rifle, complete with a damn great bayonet. “Wow, a Lee-Enfield three oh three. I haven’t seen one in years.” Harry noted that the man’s house backed towards the bypass so the Army couldn’t see his weapon at the front door. “Are you going to shoot me?”

  The man glanced down at his rifle and back in surprise. Harry’s comment probably wasn’t the usual reaction to the big weapon but Harry loved the now obsolete World War rifle. Big, heavy, tough and if they were cared for really, really accurate. The Army shooting range had one.

  “If you don’t leave, yes I will shoot you.”

  “There are only five rounds in one of those clips. Big ones, but only five. Then these women are going to be angry, and so are the men in the vans.” Harry sighed. “Our neighbours were burned out and massacred. There were ten survivors who are with us. We didn’t want the same to happen to our flats. All we want are the empty houses and we’ll help defend the place.”

  “The Army will defend it.”

  “Not if the bastards don’t use guns. I’ll show you what we can do about that. Casper?” Casper climbed out with his machete. “He hates the yobs but plays with my sister’s kids. Not a bad sort of neighbour.”

  “I can use one of those as well.” Liz showed her machete. “We took these off some of the rioters.” She sighed. “I’ve had a bloody awful few days. Can we at least sleep here and talk in the morning?”

  “How many are there? Can I see you all?”

  “Sure.” Harry called down the vehicles. “Everyone out. Don’t show the weapons.”

  The old man looked startled, then wary. “Weapons?”

  Harry smiled. “We could have just shot you, but as I said, we come in peace.”

  Another head appeared behind the man at that and spoke urgently in his ear. The older man spoke up again. “You can pull in there, Orchard Close. The house at this end, number one, has people inside so leave it alone.”

  “Yes! Perfect. Bagsy the one at the end.” Sharyn had a big smile. She waved at the two figures in the doorway. “I’m Sharyn and he’s Harry. Give us an hour to settle in and come up for a cuppa. We’ll be in the one at the end.”

  “Er, right. I’m, oh, that’s awkward. I’m Harry.” The older man gave a little shrug.

  “I don’t mind Harold.”

  “We call him soldier boy because he is. Or was until he came to get his sister.” Liz turned to call down the convoy. “We’ll have to doss on the floors tonight. Any single girls come with me.” She grinned. “Me and my girlfriend, Casper.” A ripple of laughter went down the vehicles and people started walking forward or climbing back aboard.

  Liz walked forward and as she came level with Harry she took a mock swipe at him and spoke in a low voice. “Will you stop doing that?”

  “What?” Harry really was startled.

  “When someone offers to shoot you, your first reaction is to sneer at them. He’s got a cannon and you tell him he can only get five of us? It puts bloody years on me.” She looked up Orchard Close. “We need a big place for all us girls.”

  “None of them are small, but the one at the end is taken.” Sharyn waved her hand around. “I’ve got two kids who need separate rooms and I’m not sharing a room with my brother.”

  “I’m with that, sis.”

  “I’ll need a room as well.” Hazel glanced apprehensively from one to the other. “If I can?”

  “You can sleep in Daisy’s room if there aren’t enough. Come on.” Sharyn started walking up the pavement. “Bring up the luggage please, driver.” Harry smiled and did as he wa
s told. He was agreeably surprised to find that the house wasn’t locked and the keys were hung on a row of hooks inside the door.

  Sharyn was truly happy with the kitchen and that the beds had mattresses and bedding. They were a bit damp, but the place hadn’t been empty long enough for mould to take hold and there were even some clothes in the drawers and food in the cupboards.

  A quick inspection and two of Harry’s sleeping bags, taken as part of his Army pay, were commandeered for Daisy and Wills. Hazel stayed upstairs to read a story, since Uncle-Harry had to do soldier things. The first was to find the meter cupboard and turn the electricity and then the gas heating on. Sharyn was soon singing happily to herself and the smell of hot coffee drifted through the place while the driver brought in the rest of the bags.

  * * *

  The knock at the front door was polite, and when Harry went to answer he found three people waiting. The older Harry, a younger man, and an older woman. Harry thought it was a good sign that the other Harry hadn’t brought his rifle. “Come in, please. The furniture needs a bit of airing but we’ve put covers over the chairs and settees for now. Would you like a drink?”

  “Thank you. Ooh, is that coffee? We daren’t go to the shops because the last two who went shopping didn’t come back.” The woman looked a bit uncomfortable. “We’ve been taking food from the empty houses which Harry says is looting, but what else can we do?” She stuck out a hand. “I’m Betty, or Elizabeth if we’re being posh, and I live at number one. Your neighbour, sort of.”

  Harry shook hands. “Pleased to meet you Betty. I’m Harry. Ah, Harold now.” Harold shifted his attention to the older man. “That will take some getting used to but I haven’t used Harry as long as you have. I know your name and thanks for the place to sleep.”

  “We’ve been talking and maybe we can offer a bit more than that.” The older Harry looked at the other two. “We’ve been looking at you as everyone unloaded, and you look like normal people.” He gave a little embarrassed laugh. “You know what I mean. We also saw enough weapons going into the houses to know you told the truth. You could have just killed me if your group intended taking over. Matthew here says we need extra people in case there are more of the rioters.” He gestured to the side. “This is Matthew. He used to be a Traffic Warden but they were all laid off months ago.”

  “Last year, and I get the unemployment money but the damn redundancy never came through.” The slim young man with bright red hair stuck out a hand. “Pleased to meet you.” He looked across as Sharyn came through. “Hello. I’m Matthew.”

  “Sharyn. Do you want tea or coffee?”

  “Coffee please if you can spare it.”

  “Harry, and I’d like tea if it isn’t too much trouble.” Harry senior smiled.

  “Milk but no sugar?”

  “I’m Betty and I would love coffee please.” Betty looked from Harold to Sharyn. “Are you, well, is he your, um? Significant other?”

  “Yes but not how you think. He’s my little brother.” Sharyn smiled. “Not as little now, though he’ll feel a lot younger if he is going to be called Harold again. Mum called him Harold until he left home, and so did I up until he was fifteen. That’s when he went all rebellious.” Sharyn ruffled Harold’s hair.

  “The milk will be skimmed.” Nobody seemed to mind.

  Harold sighed. Sharyn was telling the truth and he would feel fifteen again for a while, but it would stop a lot of confusion. Hazel came in as everyone was sitting down and hesitated. “It’s all right Hazel. Nip through and get a drink and I’ll explain who else lives here.” Harold quickly explained that Hazel was possibly an orphan, and that Sharyn was a widow and there were two young children upstairs.

  “I feel a lot better now.” Harry senior shrugged. “I was still a bit worried, but an Army widow with two young children and an orphaned teenager are a lot less threatening than you and that big man.”

  “Casper? He’s turned out to be a good friend in a nasty spot.” Tea and coffee finished breaking the ice.

  Harry senior came back to the initial greeting. “We really were worried, because there’s only sixteen of us living here.”

  “We are a bit scattered because we all still live in our own houses, or rather the houses we rented. Most of the rest of the residents left in one night. There were no vans or lorries, just buses and hand luggage.” Harry senior looked embarrassed again. “We really have been looting, but just for essentials.”

  “I don’t think it’s looting any more. Certainly not compared to the situation further into the city. Supermarkets have been emptied and burned and the police are just trying to survive.” Harold glanced briefly at Hazel and she was looking tense but not weepy, yet. “There are organised gangs looting now and they are killers. Is there a chemist’s shop anywhere in the area? We have some elderly people with us, and are worried about medication for them.”

  “There were a few shops on the next estate but they all burned in the riot, and so did the doctor’s surgery. Medication is a problem here as well. We asked the Army, and the sergeant said that if someone was an urgent case they would call an ambulance. Whoever it was would go to a camp where there would be medicine.” Betty looked at Harry senior. “We sent one person but haven’t heard from her since. The sergeant said she won’t be allowed back.”

  “My wife, Sally. She needed oxygen and her bottles had run out.” The strain showed on Harry senior’s face. “I wanted to go with her, but the soldiers wouldn’t allow that unless I had a pass.”

  “Only tradespeople such as plumbers and electricians were offered passes, or so we understand.” Sharyn spoke softly, but there was no way to soften what had happened or ease the man’s pain. Harold’s knowledge of conditions in the camps certainly wouldn’t help the older man to feel any better.

  “The rest of the residents who left didn’t have trades, not that sort.” Matthew had a curled lip. “Most were retired anyway.”

  “We, the ones who are left, weren’t exactly part of the club. Poor relations at best. Some of the residents were sociable enough but they didn’t make any close friends.” Betty was looking puzzled. “Why would civil servants, managers, and retired judges, that sort of person, get a pass?”

  “The people taken away by bus from our flats were all related to that type of person. Someone is rescuing the people who are used to being at the top of the heap. Those who run the place. Though the answer might be simply that they could afford the ticket.” Harold was seeing a pattern now and not a pretty one. “Though they’ve also taken the right people to keep life comfortable, the tradespeople.”

  “Where to? The countryside is supposed to be full of gangs, and the cities and big towns are being sealed off.” Harry senior looked from one to the other. “Where can they go?”

  “Maybe Market Rasen.” There were blank looks from everyone and Harold gave a short laugh. “A friend of mine said his parents had moved there. It’s a little place in Lincolnshire where allegedly nothing happens. Nothing like riots and murder in the streets anyway. If the lot that left here moved there, and brought plumbers, how would we know?”

  “But what about the gangs in the countryside?” Matthew’s face showed that he was thinking of one answer even as he spoke, an answer he didn’t like.

  “How much do you trust the TV news?” Sharyn wasn’t smiling at all now. “Though what happened to all those who got out? There must have been thousands pouring through those gaps the first night and they didn’t look like yobs or rioters.”

  “From the middle class suburbs, remember? We worked out roughly where the breakouts were, the ones that weren’t stopped with machine guns and helicopters.” Harold’s mental picture was settling down. “Almost all of those will be good solid citizens according to a certain set of standards. Perfect for keeping the milk and eggs coming in Market Rasen. Unlike the nasty, dirty-handed yobs from the social housing and the terraces and tower blocks.” Harold stopped and looked at the shocked faces.

  �
��Sorry. I suddenly had a very nasty thought or two. This stinks, but I could be entirely wrong.” He sighed. “It doesn’t make any difference now because we’re all sealed in.” Harold looked at the three residents. “We are sealed in, aren’t we? The TV showed wire and concrete blocks.”

  “Yes, completely sealed in. The bypass here is up in the air, a long overpass really, so the roadway is impossible to get to except up the ramps.” Matthew sighed. “I considered going underneath but there’s wire and there must be cameras or alarms. I was inspecting the wire fence when two soldiers turned up and pointed rifles at me. They told me there was a three hundred yard zone where I could be shot on sight.” Matthew sighed again. “I came home.”

  “The Army mean it as well and they’ve put up signs now. A group came up the main road and were shooting at the soldiers and then a plane came over. They dropped bombs. Then a helicopter dropped fire bombs.” Betty’s face reflected the shock she still felt over that. “Between those and the other fights every house along the main road is wrecked.”

  “Other fights?”

  “There have been several more groups trying to get out. They didn’t come in here, thank God.” Harry senior smiled sadly at Harold. “I would have probably missed you with that rifle. It was my Dad’s and looks damn impressive, especially with the big bayonet on the end. We frightened off one car full who were looking for trouble.”

  “The more serious ones would have shot you from inside their car where the Army couldn’t see the weapon, or sneaked back at night and overrun the place. That weapon is an incentive now because I doubt if there are many heavy rifles out there.” Harold smiled. “Not good, solid, tough ones like that or ones with a big bayonet.”

  “He’s a soldier, a real one.” Hazel blushed when everyone looked at her. “Sorry. Everyone told me that Harry, Harold, him, he’s a real soldier and can shoot properly. He can also use a stick, a club, and fight properly. That’s why I want to stay here, in this house.” Hazel subsided, still blushing.