SAFE HAVEN: RISE OF THE RAMS

by Christopher Artinian

  The two women left the room and walked down the long hall. “That felt good,” Samantha admitted.

  “I was just thinking the same thing. I thought my medical career was going to be restricted to bandaging battlefield wounds from now on. I didn’t think I’d ever get the opportunity to help someone bring new life into the world again.” She smiled.

  “What do you make of this place, Lucy? I mean, not just the hotel, the whole village?”

  “I think they’ve planned and organised everything well. I don’t think people are going to go hungry and last night was the first night I’ve felt safe in quite some time.” She looked across to Samantha. “It feels right.”

  *

  There was a loud crack and Mike looked back in the direction he had come from. A fence had been demolished by a group of RAMs – his escape hadn’t gone unnoticed. The creatures looked up the street and then down. There was a split-second pause as Mike locked stares with one of the beasts. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck bristle, and goose bumps fanned up his arms. Then, as the sound of their agitated growls were drowned out by the group’s thundering footsteps, he turned right and began to sprint as fast as he could.

  The two slow-moving creatures up ahead gained purpose as the commotion alerted them to possible prey. They began to charge towards Mike, who had renewed vigour now he was back in the open. He darted behind a van, confusing the RAMs long enough for him to work his way behind them and unleash a brutal blow to the back of each one’s skull. He withdrew the hatchet and machete simultaneously. Both creatures stood for a second, a small stream of lumpy blood trickling down their necks, before collapsing to their knees and then crashing face first onto the tarmac. Mike quickly wiped his weapons and continued running towards the signs. The large group of RAMs were at least fifty metres behind him when he spotted the sign for the public library. He turned left as per the instruction. This took him up a short narrow street towards another library sign, this time for a right turn. Up ahead there was a single-storey brick building. The canopied doorway was blocked by a metal roller shutter and the windows were too high and too narrow to gain access, but Mike could see skylights on the roof. At each side of the entrance there were small brick walls with bicycle parking racks attached. Without slowing down, he reached around and placed the hatchet and machete back in his rucksack, then took several short sharp breaths as he launched from the pavement to the wall to the canopy. He hung on like a gymnast on the high bar, swinging powerfully to gain the momentum to push himself up. From there, it was just a short step to the roof. He ran to the back and then flopped down flat next to a skylight. There was no sight or sound of the pack of hunters, and even if they found the building they would not be able to see him.

  Mike gazed down into the large open-plan library and saw that it looked just like most others he had visited. It had dingy and uninspired decoration, but there was a wealth of knowledge and promise in the full shelves of books. He turned his attention to the skylight itself. He had seen some that had a mechanism for opening in warm weather, but this particular model was not one of those. He knelt, remaining as low as possible, and felt around the edge. He withdrew the screwdriver from his backpack and levered away a small piece of sealant, allowing him to remove the rest simply by peeling it away. He examined what was beneath and established that the thick plastic was riveted to a raised mounting in four places. He pushed the edge of the screwdriver underneath and then pulled the plastic sharply, splitting it around the rivet. He did the same for the other three, then lifted the skylight to one side and lowered his head through the gap. It was about ten feet down to the floor, but if he lowered himself carefully, the drop would be easily manageable.

  He shuffled to the edge of the hole he had created and turned around as if he were climbing in to a cold swimming pool. His muscles tensed beneath his black jacket as they took his weight and slowly lowered him, inch by inch. When his arms were fully extended, he let go and dropped. Then he heard charging footsteps and a maniacal scream behind him.

  *

  There were three shallow knocks. Emma and the children looked curiously towards the door. “Come in,” she said.

  The door opened slowly and Joseph appeared, followed by Beth, John and Annie. Emma eased herself up from the bed.

  “I hope you don’t mind us popping in?” Joseph enquired politely.

  “Of course not,” Emma lied. All she wanted was to be left alone to grieve. Well, that’s not all she wanted. She wanted her little brother and sister to accept what was happening, so that she could mourn with her family rather than by herself.

  “Are they looking after you here?” Joseph asked as he and Beth sat down on the bed next to Emma.

  “The people couldn’t be nicer,” Emma replied, struggling with the banality of the question.

  “I’ve spoken to my brother, Daniel, and to Mr Martin. There are a few houses free in the village. A lot of folk went to join their families all over the country when the problems first started, so now they’re just lying empty. Of course, you don’t have to make a decision now, but when you’re ready, if you choose to stay, you don’t have to live out of a suitcase. You can have a home here.” He put his hand on Emma’s and the irritation she had felt dissipated.

  “I don’t think it’s a matter of choosing to stay, Joseph. I wouldn’t feel confident with just me, Lucy and Samantha travelling the rest of the journey with the kids in tow. I mean, look what’s happened to us so far, and we’ve barely come fifty miles.”

  “Stories are already going around the village about us, about what we did to get here, about what Mike did,” Beth said, trying to make Emma feel better.

  The three of them sat on the bed and the four children began talking as if they were in the playground at break time. That small snapshot of normality brought a little comfort to the adults.

  Joseph and Beth stood up. “Well, I didn’t want to take up much of your time. I just wanted to check in with you and see if you needed anything,” Joseph said, placing a gentle hand on Emma’s shoulder.

  “That’s very kind of you, Joseph, thank you. But they’re taking good care of us here,” she replied, patting his hand twice in acknowledgement.

  “Come on, kids,” Beth said to her younger siblings as the family made their way out of the room.

  As soon as the door closed, Emma reclined on the bed once more, keen to lose herself in her thoughts, while her younger brother and sister began laying out a Monopoly board.

  “Do you think she’ll be okay, Dad?” Beth asked as they walked down the hall.

  Joseph’s leg was now constantly numb below the knee, but at least his cold symptoms had cleared up for the time being, although last night he had woken up with the worst headache he had ever had. Now he came to think of it, it wasn’t the headache that had woken him up but the agonising cramp in his thigh. My goodness, he was falling apart at the seams. Is this what it was like to get old?

  “Dad?” Beth said, surprised that her father hadn’t responded at all.

  “Sorry, love, I was miles away. What did you say?”

  “Do you think Emma will be okay?” she asked again.

  “I think all of us are going to be fine,” Joseph said, putting his arm around his daughter’s shoulder.

  *

  Mike turned and ducked in one instinctive movement. Three people were running at him. The first was a middle-aged woman with long black hair, flecked with grey, and fierce dark brown eyes. She was the one howling while swinging a chair in his direction. Mike’s ducking movement meant she lost her balance and went flailing off to the right. The second figure was a small rotund man, completely bald, his body lost in a thick brown hand-knitted pullover. He tried to right hook Mike, who easily deflected the punch. The third attacker was a middle-aged man with gelled black hair and a thin moustache. He ran at Mike with a broom handle. Mike grabbed it tightly and jettisoned
his assailant across the tile floor. All three hurried to gather themselves. Mike pulled the shotgun out of his rucksack, pumped it and pointed.

  They froze, instinctively raising their hands. The fear and uncertainty caused by being attacked vanished as Mike looked at the motley assembly in front of him.

  “Fuck me, it’s the Addams family. You haven’t got Pugsley and Wednesday hiding round here somewhere have you?” Mike asked. The three remained silent, angry with themselves for not taking down the intruder. “Who the hell are you?” Mike demanded, still pointing the shotgun in their direction.

  “I think the more pertinent question is who the hell are you?” the woman asked, trying to control her frustration and fear. The two men remained cowering, looking down at the floor.

  “I’ll ask you again.” This time Mike raised the shotgun to his shoulder and pointed directly at her.

  The woman gulped and held her breath, then released it, stuck out her chest and announced, “We’re the librarians.”

  It was totally inappropriate, but Mike burst out laughing. The woman had spoken as if announcing she was a member of the Justice League or The Avengers.

  It took a moment before he regained his composure and resumed eye contact with the woman, who looked more indignant than ever. “Look, if I put this away, the three of you aren’t going to try anything stupid, are you?” He looked from face to face. Each shook their head vehemently and Mike lowered the shotgun into the rucksack. His attention was drawn to two vending machines, both were open and still half full. He walked across and pulled out a bottle of mineral water and a chocolate bar.

  The librarians just watched, afraid to move but curious as to who the intruder was. Mike took a long drink and then wolfed down the chocolate bar before grabbing another.

  “So, what are you guys doing in here?” Mike leant against the drab beige wall of the foyer and gently slouched down to the floor. The woman walked across to the vending machine, gesturing as if to ask whether it was okay for her to take a drink. Mike nodded enthusiastically and she sat down opposite, prudishly adjusting her skirt as she did.

  “The library has been closed for near on six months, but we’ve all still got keys, so we pop in regularly to borrow books. Well, on Tuesday, there was an emergency meeting at the town hall and we all agreed to meet here beforehand. We were just about to set off when we heard screaming and shouting followed by gunfire, lots of gunfire. We didn’t need to see what was going on to know what was going on.” The woman stopped and took a long drink from her bottle. “We yanked the shutter down, put the padlock on and have been here ever since. We keep hearing the odd gun, the odd charging group of what we can only assume are those things, but we’re safe as long as we’re in here.”

  Mike took another sip of water. “Trust me, it’s not nice out there. How are you fixed for food and water?”

  “We’re actually quite fortunate from that point of view. As well as the vending machines and the additional stock for the vending machines, we’ve got a staff room with a water cooler and a dozen replacement bottles, and the library cafe has quite a lot of tinned items. They shut the place down so quickly that they never thought to remove the supplies, so we’ll be fine for quite a while.” She looked towards her co-workers, who were staring angrily at her for giving the intruder so much information.

  Mike picked up on the body language. “Don’t worry. I’m not here to rip off all your supplies. I’m after a map.”

  “What kind of map?” the Uncle Fester lookalike asked with interest.

  “I came into town with my family. An army of those things attacked us and I led them off while my brother and sisters escaped. They were going to a place called Candleton. I know it’s north of here, but that’s about it.”

  All three librarians sprang to their feet as if their lives had a purpose once again. They hustled through the labyrinth of shelves and headed straight towards the map section. Mike stood up and followed them. As he reached them, the Gomez lookalike had already pulled an Ordnance Survey map from the shelf and handed it to him.

  “Wow, I’m impressed, guys, that’s quick work.” Mike smiled warmly towards the increasingly likeable trio.

  “Was there anything else you needed?” the woman asked. Her demeanour suggested she was the head librarian.

  Mike was about to say no, then he paused. “Actually, now you mention it, there is something else.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Lucy opened the door to Emma’s room. The tight-knit group had shared so much over the previous few days that there was no need for formalities like knocking. The children rushed up to her enthusiastically and Sammy flung her arms around her waist.

  “Do you want to play Monopoly with us?” the young girl asked, before racing her brother back to the board.

  “Maybe later, sweetie, I was just coming in to see how you were all doing.” She levered off her trainers and planted herself on the bed next to Emma. Both were in a semi-upright position, able to see the children play contentedly. “They seem to be holding up pretty well,” Lucy said, watching Jake throw the dice.

  “Yep,” Emma admitted, with more than a hint of bitterness in her voice.

  “Y’know, we got a guided tour of the village today. It’s incredible what they’ve done with this place, how they’ve fortified it, how they’ve planned. I think we’re going to be safe here, Emma.”

  She turned to look at Lucy, her dark eyebrows arched in sadness. When she spoke it was only just loud enough to hear. “I know I should be grateful that we’re somewhere safe. I know I should be grateful that we’re alive, but right now, all I really know is that my brother’s gone. I can’t see beyond that, Lucy. I don’t want to see beyond that.” Tears began to trickle down Emma’s face and Lucy pulled her close, like a parent comforting her child.

  The pair stayed like that for some time. Eventually Emma pulled away and dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief.

  “Have you eaten today?” Lucy asked, playing mother again.

  “I don’t want anything,” Emma replied. The thought of food filling the emptiness inside her was too repugnant.

  “Sweetie, if you don’t eat, you’re going to get ill. You have to look after yourself. Sammy and Jake are counting on you more than ever now. Look, I’m about to go down for some dinner, why don’t you and the kids come join me?”

  She shook her head. “I’m fine, honestly, but if you’d be willing to take Jake and Sammy, I’d appreciate it.”

  Lucy looked ruefully towards her. “Of course I’ll take them, sweetie.”

  The children happily followed her out of the room and Lucy closed the door behind her, leaving Emma alone for the first time since arriving in Candleton. Emma edged down the bed and reached across for another pillow, clutching it to her chest as she began to wail.

  *

  After Mike had checked out the items he needed, courtesy of the three librarians, they all sat down in the comfortable chairs of the reading area. He studied the map while the others talked quietly amongst themselves. When he’d finished, he surveyed the small group of oddballs. The three of them were clearly social misfits: intelligent, geeky and, outside of the confines of this library, very vulnerable. Together though, they were companions, equals, who understood each other’s awkwardness.

  “Look, you guys.” Mike spoke and the other three stopped. “It’s late afternoon now, I can’t really risk setting off tonight, so I’m going to go first thing tomorrow. Why don’t you think about coming with me?”

  All three were stunned into silence. They looked at each other, shocked first by the generosity of such an offer from this stranger and then by the mere suggestion that any of them could ever consider leaving the only place they felt whole. They whispered among themselves for a few minutes and then the woman spoke.

  “I don’t even know your name,” she said. The crow’s feet around her eyes deepe
ned as her face warmed.

  “I’m Mike. Mike Fletcher,” he said and impulsively held out his hand.

  “I’m Ruth, this is David and this is Richard,” the woman said, introducing her two colleagues. “It’s a most generous offer, Mike, but we don’t really plan on leaving here.”

  “I don’t understand. What are you going to do when the food and drink run out?” he asked naively.

  “We’ve made plans. We’ve got a few weeks left and we intend to enjoy them together in the place we love. Then, when the time comes, we’re all going to leave together,” she answered, looking towards her friends.

  It slowly dawned on Mike what she was saying. He didn’t know if the suicide pact had come before or after the night of the town meeting, but they were clearly resolute. He hung his head solemnly. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry. It’s what we want,” David answered, leaning forward.

  “Look, Mike,” Ruth said, “it’s not exactly a sports car, but I’ve got a Nissan Micra in the staff car park. I’m not going to be using it again. I don’t think it will handle cross-country trails well, but you’re only a few miles from Candleton by road and you’re welcome to it.”

  The chance of him finding a vehicle with keys and a good battery had been so remote that he had resigned himself to making the trip on foot, but now this stranger was offering him a passport to his family. It saddened him to think that he wouldn’t get to know these people better, that no-one would.

  Ruth stood up and went to her workstation. She pulled out her handbag and removed the car keys, then came back round and handed them to Mike. “Honestly, Mike, they’re of no use to me now.”

  Mike got to his feet and took the keys gratefully. “Thank you, Ruth. This is one of those moments in life when the words can’t match the sentiment, but thank you. If you could meet them, I guarantee my family would thank you as well. Because of you, I’m going to get to see my brother and sisters again tonight.” Mike took her hand in both of his and shook it firmly. “Now, I don’t suppose you’ve got a stepladder so I can get back out?” he asked, smiling.