When the remaining Slavers began to run, Sarah got up from where she lay and reloaded the rifle, watching as Alan chased them down, hacking and chopping them to bloody pieces. Only a couple managed to reach the hill in time to avoid such a death and she knew that they'd go back and tell their leaders who was after them. It might even put some fear into them for a change.
She recovered Ziggy and rode down the hill towards the building where Alan was talking to a woman in dirty green coveralls and a baseball cap. The dead and dying were strewn all around and some of the defenders were moving amongst them, identifying one from another.
“Sarah, meet Annie,” he said. “Annie says that this is a water treatment plant for Hope.”
“We weren't far wrong then,” she replied, holding out her hand to the woman who looked weary from the battle. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. As I was saying to your partner here, it's our best source of easily available drinking water – and that's exactly why they want it.”
“How long has it been going on?” asked Sarah.
“They started raiding our caravans and farms last year. Since then they've tried to be more strategic, attacking key locations like this one.”
“Have they had much success?” asked Alan.
“They took one of our biggest farms and plundered everything that was there before burning it down. That's the kind of mentality we're dealing with here.”
“Have you seen anything worse than this?” he asked.
“How much worse can it get? I lost some good people today.”
“We've reason to believe they've got a piece of technology in their hands now - a tank and maybe more than one.”
“A tank?” she said. “Like a real one - those armoured things you see in old-world stuff? Fuck, if they have one of those then Hope is finished. They'll just drive right on in.”
“Well that's where we were heading before we heard the gunfire,” said Sarah. “We came to deliver a package to a Mr. John Nibbs.”
“You'll be lucky,” she said.
“Why's that?”
“Because John Nibbs is over there and he won't be receiving any more parcels in this life.”
Sarah looked down at the corpse as it was being carried past them and shook her head. He didn't even seem that old to her, only a young man at best.
“Thanks for showing up when you did, anyway,” said Annie. “You saved our skin.”
“What'll you do now?” she asked.
“One of us will head to Hope and tell them what's just happened. We'll need more people to guard the place now as quickly as possible. Then we'll dig in and wait for the next wave. They can't last forever, can they?”
“Don't be so sure,” said Alan. “We're heading to Hope now so your man can ride with us.”
“I'd appreciate that,” she said. “But we have no horses here.”
“They can ride on the back with me,” he replied. “But we should hurry - night is coming. How far is it?”
“Just over that hill there, maybe six or seven miles. You can't miss it, I assure you. Give me a moment to find someone.”
As she walked off, Sarah let out a low whistle. “They wouldn't have survived that wave, let alone another.”
“Exactly,” whispered Alan. “Let's just hope we can find a solution soon before the Slavers decided to throw more bodies at it.”
“Or the tank.”
“Or the tank, yes.”
When the messenger was chosen, Annie helped him onto the back of his horse and they set off at a brisk pace, keen to cover the distance as quickly as possible. The evening was cold but at least it was dry, she thought.
“I can't tell you how grateful we are,” said the young man behind Alan. “We were finished until you showed up. That was some good timing.”
“It certainly was,” he replied.
“You certainly took them by surprise. They didn't see you coming until you'd killed half of them. I don't know how you did it, but it was amazing to watch.”
Sarah wondered if the young man would feel the same way if he really knew how he'd done it. Twice she'd seen bullets pass through Alan's body, flying out of his back with jets of blood following in their wake. When the fighting had finished she'd seen how quickly he'd rushed to put his coat back on and cover the wounds. He didn't want anyone to know, that was for certain and she couldn't blame him. In another generation or so he'd be branded a monster or worse and the torment would never end for him.
“What were you doing out here anyway?” he asked.
“We heard the shots,” said Sarah. “Thought we'd come and see what was happening.”
“We're glad you did. Where are you from?”
“Pine Lodge,” said Alan.
“I know it,” he replied. “Not heard from you guys in a long time. What's it like?”
“Peaceful.” The man laughed.
“We could do with some of that around here. Feels like we haven't had a break since before I was born, maybe before my Pops was born either. Scavs. Slavers. You name it, they all want a piece of Hope. The place is built like a fortress these days, especially since the solar collector started working.” Alan turned his head.
“A working solar collector?” he said. “How?”
“I don't know myself. Someone had a father who had a father who, well, you know. That sort of thing. Anyway, Jimmy P managed to getting it going. It only pumps out a little juice, enough to light some bulbs, power a few bits and pieces and that's it. The cells are shot so they don't hold much charge especially since the sky is nearly always overcast.”
“Jimmy P is quite the guy,” said Alan.
“You'd better believe it. Most of the stuff we got working is all down to him. Give that boy a spanner and he's good to go.”
Sarah smiled at the enthusiasm and found herself quite excited to see this piece of technology in action. She'd seen the fuel generators before, like the ones at Abbingdon, but never a working solar collector. The trouble with all that technology was the finely machined parts that just couldn't be replaced anymore. You could always find bits of combustion engines or even make some replacements, but to find a perfectly ground focal lens or an undamaged hydrogen cell of exact dimensions was next to impossible. She knew - her Papa had spent a long time looking just to fix one music playing device he'd been given by his own father.
They rode along in silence after that and it wasn't long before the settlement came into view. Night was coming in fast and their visibility was poor to say the least, but when they rounded the corner of a narrow tarmac path they saw the glowing lights of Hope off in the distance, shining like a beacon in the inky blackness.
“There it is,” said the young man. “Hope is the right name for that place, I can tell you.”
“I can see why the Slavers want to take it off you,” said Sarah. “It's a jewel out here in the ruins.”
“Well I can't see Tarrick letting them, not while he's still breathing.”
“Tarrick?” asked Alan.
“He's the boss. He runs Hope and keeps everything together. You could call him a kind of President or something. He's the most important guy there.”
“I think we'll need to speak to this Tarrick, see if we can't agree to help each other,” said Sarah.
“What is it you need?”
“We'll let you know.”
The closer they got, the more they realised that calling the place a fortress hadn't been an exaggeration. The entire settlement was like a great black shadow in the night. The nearer they came to the gates, the more of the lamps vanished behind the high walls of scrap metal until, when they reached the entrance, the darkness swamped them and all the light was gone.
“Creepy,” said Sarah.
“There's some floodlights above the-”
Suddenly they were blinded by two great beams of brilliant white light tainted with blue that struck them from above. Putting a hand over her face, she shielded her eyes from the powerful lights and d
rew up to a halt next to Alan.
“Makes you feel welcome, doesn't it?” he laughed.
“I think I'm burning,” she replied. “I've never seen lights this bright before.”
The gates were closed but the young man dropped to the ground and walked over, introducing himself by shouting up to the people stood behind the flood lights. There was an exchange of insults and pleasantries and then the enormous steel doors parted. On the other side of the entrance, watching them lead their mounts into the street, were five guards, all armed with machine guns and all dressed in the same kind of home-made armour. They wore shields over their faces and looked ready to defend the place from a mass invasion.
“Let me talk to the Captain,” said the young man. “I'll explain things to him and sort out stables for your horses. I owe you that much.”
“Tell him we'd like a word as soon as possible,” said Alan. Sarah stood there blinking away the sparkles in her eyes as the glow that'd burned into them began to fade.
“Is it what you expected?” she asked him.
“Not really,” he replied. “What about you?”
“Not at all. It looks ready for war. I mean, look at those walls, the guards, even the streets - they're built with war in mind. It gives me the creeps.”
“They're in the heart of Slaver country now. I can't blame them for digging in and waiting it out. No wonder they've heard nothing from anywhere else - they're locked up tighter than a drum.”
“It's no way to live. Isolated, cut off from everyone. I couldn't do it regardless of who was at the gate trying to kill me.”
“Let's see if this Tarrick can answer that one. Maybe he's got more of a reason too than we realise.”
After being stared at for quite some time by the guards, there came a tall, broad shouldered man wrapped up in winter clothing wearing a beard so thick that it masked most of his ruddy face from view. He wore a wooly hat made from black fibers and in one hand he carried a clipboard loaded with a few sheets of white paper while the other rested on the butt of a revolver on his hip.
“So you're the ones who saved my water purifier,” he barked as he approached them. “I owe you a drink. The Slavers have got us on the back foot and I'm afraid that this wasn't an isolated incident.”
“We can tell,” said Sarah. “I'm guessing Hope is the last place to hold out against them.”
“That's right. When they first came we thought it was just a few Scavs, a looting party with guns, something we could deal with. No problem. Then they started getting stronger, more in number and better equipped. They must have come across a treasure-trove of the old weapons and decided it was time for a take-over. We've been fighting them ever since and now they've pushed us all the way back here.”
“Is this all of you?” she asked.
“It's everyone we could bring back from the local settlements. They razed most of them to the ground, killed anyone they found and stole what they could. And here we are. All that's left of our thriving little town is behind these walls and at the purifier but even that's in jeopardy now.”
“We're from Pine Lodge in the west. We came across some of them trying to sell off slaves as criminal labour.”
“So is that what brings you here? Have you got some kind of score to settle with these guys?”
“We've already dealt with them,” she said. “We're actually here to deliver a package but the person we were supposed to give it to is dead now.”
“Who?”
“John Nibbs.”
“Shit. He was a good man. Loyal to a fault. He had family if you want to pass it on to her.”
“Who?” she asked.
“He has a daughter; she's working in the triage centre we've setup near the middle of town for when they attack.”
“Things are that bad?” asked Alan.
“We're expecting a final assault on Hope any day now. You've heard about the tank I take it?”
“We saw its tracks,” said Sarah. “So it's real and functioning then?”
“As real as you and me. Scouts saw it a few months ago, chugging down the southern road towards who-knows-where. Since then we've tried to locate something we can use to take it out but our boys have turned up squat.”
“I think I might be able to help,” said Alan. Tarrick laughed.
“How?”
“I'll need two carts at least, pulled by two pairs of horses. The sooner, the better. You’ll also need to look at brewing some pretty potent spirits we can use as Molotov cocktails.”
“Molo-what?”
“Fire bombs. Tanks really don’t like them and you’ll find them quite effective.”
“Let me get this straight,” he said, folding his arms across his chest. “You have something that can take out that armoured monster? And you're just going to need two expensive carts to bring it here on.”
“That's about the top and bottom of it,” he said. “The choice is yours.”
“What's in it for you two anyway? What do you care? I don't know you from Adam or Eve.”
“We care,” said Sarah. “Because they'll come for us next. They'll roll into Pine Lodge and trample us into the ground if we don't find a way to stop them. We couldn't mount a serious defence back home even if we wanted to; we just don't have a structure like this. We could do it here, though. Hold them off, maybe even wipe them out.”
“If you could,” he said, suddenly warming to the idea. “It could mean peace. At least for a short while. Who knows, maybe even a chance to get back on our feet. You've heard about our solar collector?”
“Quite an achievement,” said Alan. “It'd be a shame if it fell into Slaver hands.”
The guards around him were enthralled but it was the giant leader, Tarrick, who still stood there with his arms folded in all that the gesture implied - defensive disbelief.
“You two and your wolf just ride up here, possibly save a lot of lives, kill plenty more and then drop a solution to my biggest problem right in my lap and expect me to just hand over carts and horses?”
“Yeah,” said Sarah. “It's clear we understand each other now.”
She didn't really know if they did. So far she'd gone along with what Alan was saying but even she didn't quite know what he was on about. Did he have a cache somewhere? Some hidden weapon that could defeat a tank? So far her life since meeting him had been crazy enough to make her trust him even in the strangest of circumstances and this didn't feel like much more of a stretch either. What she did know was that when she looked at the guards there was the ember of hope beginning to glow in their eyes as if she and Alan had fanned the coals back into life. Did Tarrick feel the same way though?
“Okay,” he said after a long pause. “You can have the carts - not because I'm your new best friend, but because there's nothing to lose now. If you don't come back with them it won't really matter - by then we'll all be dead or enslaved anyway.”
“I'll be back, I can promise you that,” said Alan. “I suggest we move fast. I'll need a team to help me. Some to handle the horses, others to help me load. Strong people.”
“Done. And you're bringing back something to help us with? What will you want when it's all over?”
“Nothing,” he replied. “To go home and rest for a while. I can't do that while these Slavers still go around doing what they want, can I?”
“None of us can, sir. None of us can.”
From then on the entire settlement was alive with activity. People were drafted to handle the horses and the carts, cleaning them and adjusting them to Alan's requests, all keen to help the two people who promised to deliver them from their enemies. Sarah was amazed that they were so quickly trusted, so openly received, but then she knew why, Alan was just that kind of man and he inspired unwavering confidence in himself that no matter how bad it got, he would have a solution for them.
In the meantime, she asked Jerry for the house of John Nibb's daughter and once the horses were settled in the stables, she set about finding it. That
wasn't before Alan met her brushing Ziggy down in one of the stalls and feeding him.
“I'm ready to leave,” he said. “But I can see you're not coming with me.”
“No,” she replied. “I'm going to finish what I was sent here to do and get ready to help defend this place. There's still a lot we don't know and I intend to find as much out as I can.”
“Good thinking. I'll be gone for a day, two at the most. I just hope the Slavers don't decide to attack between now and then. If they do, Hope won't stand a chance.”
“That was my concern too,” she said. “In helping defend the purifier we might have scared them into striking back quickly. The clock's ticking, either way.”
“I find that a lot. Wherever I go there's always a rush, I always seem to be on the back foot like I just can't get ahead. I go from one situation to another. You know,” he said, patting the horse. “Before I was asked to find Tyler I'd just ridden from this little harbour on the west coast where one of their ships had crashed on this island just out to sea. I hadn't planned on stopping there for more than a day but it took over a week to get them all off that bloody rock.”
“It's tough being the best,” she said, smiling. “We're in high demand.”
“We certainly are.”
She put the brush down and led the horse towards the bundle of hay hanging from the ceiling where it promptly began chewing. Then she walked over to Alan and kissed him.
“Be safe,” she said. “And come back soon.”
“I will.”
“If it gets bad,” she said, pulling him closer. “If I think it's all going south, I'll run. I'll head home and meet you there.”
“You won't,” he whispered in her ear. “Not when you see them dying around you. You'll want to be by their side to the very end, even if it means...”
Sarah pulled back and looked at him, nodding. “You're right.”
“I'll be here,” he said with firm resolve. “And we'll go home together, my love.”
“We will. I know we will.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Beyond Hope (Tales from the Brink Book 3) Page 20
