In truth I wasn't alone I had my mum. I felt their loss though, I missed Cammi's smile and Gail's stern but loving nature. I hadn't told Finn and the others about them dying, they had enough going on without me adding to it. I did tell Finn about the army men though, he needed to keep an eye out for them. So now it was just my mum and I, I was glad I still had her but I missed my brother and everyone else. I'd never told my mum about being held captive, I didn't want her to know what I'd suffered. I knew she would feel guilty if I told her. It was not long after they died, that my mum found the vaccine. I hadn't told Finn and the others about that either, I wanted to wait until they'd sorted things out. I just hoped that he would be okay, I didn't know if I could deal with losing him.
Chapter 17
Roy
It had been almost a month since Ronald's men had arrived, neither I or any of my troops liked them. As soon as they arrived, they took over. Yet it seemed that they weren't any closer to finding Finn, Faye or Morgan than we were. The only thing they'd managed to find out was that Finn was in Scotland. The remaining government and army still had access to security cameras around the country, though not all of them worked.
I had only been awake less than half an hour when someone knocked at my door, luckily I was dressed.
'Come in,' I said tiredly.
'Morning Major General,' Willow greeted me.
'Good morning, what can I do for you Cadet?' I asked yawning.
'The Special Ops soldiers request your presence.'
Judging by her face it had not been a request but a demand.
'Please inform them I shall be there shortly,' I smiled.
'Yes sir,' she replied looking nervous.
She clearly had something on her mind but as always minded her words.
'Please speak freely Cadet,' I told her softly.
She still looked uncomfortable.
'You may close the door if you wish to speak privately.'
A look of relief washed over her as she took a moment peer round the corner to check it was clear before closing the door.
'I am concerned about these Special Ops troops sir,' she said quietly.
'As am I, do you have any specific concerns?' I asked worryingly. She took a deep breath before airing her worries, once more I felt captivated by her beauty. Her russet curls glistening as a ray of sun light shone through my glassless window. Willow's sage eyes were filled with worry and fear, though unlike some of my crew from the beginning of the outbreak I knew she would never desert us.
'I fear they may be trying to take over, they order us about as if we are new to war. They belittle and humiliate us, and we are forced to stand and take it,' she said shakily.
I sighed, I knew she spoke the truth but there was nothing I could do. They were here at the request of General Hawthorn and none of us, not even I dared disobey or question his orders. Yet I did not wish to see my troops harmed in any way.
'As you know my hands are tied with this, though I do share your concerns,' I told her sadly.
'I know and I understand sir.'
'Please, when we're alone call me Roy,' I smiled.
She nodded.
'Some of the other troops and I have been talking and while I loathe putting you in such a position, I feel there is only one way to deal with these men,' she answered in almost a whisper. My heart began to race, for I knew while she wasn't directly saying it she was talking about committing treason. I had to admit the thought had crossed my mind more than once, but I was unsure as to whether all of my troops would agree and be able to keep it secret if we were ever questioned.
'How many of the troops have agreed with this concept?' I asked.
'Almost of half sir- I mean Roy,' she replied.
'Do you feel that they would be able lie under oath should it ever be suspected?' 'Yes, we all feel very strongly about this and these troops that General Ronald has sent will surely do more damage to the mission. They willingly admit to killing four people, one of which was a small child,' she said in disbelief.
'Can you tell me which of the troops are agreeable to this idea?' As Willow told which of my people were willing to commit treason, we also spent the next half an hour going over the plan. I would call a meeting in the office and arrange for those I trusted and those most capable to go out in groups each group would have three of the Special Ops men in. We'd lead them to a secluded area and there we would deal with them.
I asked Willow at the end if she was sure about this, to which she replied, 'I want to see them pay, it's only a matter of time before they get too out of hand.' A short while later I stood in the office with all of my troops plus the Special Ops men, I felt nervous but I ensured that it did not show. I decided to take my group down to a small village called Greenfield, we had not yet scouted the area and while we had been informed the Finn was in Scotland I wanted to check some more of the nearby area's before moving my people all that way.
'Willow, Lance, Jack, Jackie I want you with me. Sam, Tyreece, Darren, Nina and Tim I want you lot together, Tim you're leading the troops, and you'll be going over to Holmfirth,' I told them sternly.
They all nodded obediently, Nina even smiled a little. Nina a lovely woman, while she was strong and fierce she was usually the one who made us all laugh. She was average height and had a slender build, she had long whiskey brown hair with amber eyes that shone like the gem, her pale pink skin gave her a healthy glow. She was among the lucky few who's family had been rescued and sent to live on the Isle of Wight, she had a younger brother and both her parents.
'Liam, Ashia, Harinder, Fred and Molly I want you to go over to Measham, Fred you'll be leading.'
I could not help but look at them as they nodded and smiled, Willow had spoken to them all before the meeting and told them the true nature of the mission. Liam wasn't even thirty yet he showed exceptional skill, he was a tall lad with bright carrot coloured hair, imperial blue eyes and ghost white skin. He was a kind and loving lad who had proven useful on more than one occasion. He'd been in the army for ten years since he turned eighteen, he was another of the lucky few whose older sister and mother lived freely on the Isle of Wight.
Ashia was one of our very few Indian recruits, and while none of us here were racist I know she felt like the odd one out being the only female Indian in the group. She was in her mid-thirties and had been in the army for fifteen years since being nineteen, she had done it to be closer to her brother who was also here. She was tall and leggy with caramel skin, earthy coloured eyes and long charcoal black hair. She had four other brothers, one sister and prior to the outbreak both her parents were alive. Only her mother, sister and two of her others brothers had made it to the safety of the Isle of Wight.
Harinder was Ashia's older brother, he was thirty-eight and aside from being two years older and five inches taller he and his sister were the spitting image of each other. He had been in the army for twenty years, it was only due to his decision to refuse the offer that he was a lower rank than me. He told me once that he didn't want to be in my position because he was too afraid of making the wrong choices and getting his fellow officers hurt or worse, no he was much happier taking orders than giving them.
Fred was one of the older men under my command, he was in his early forties and been in the army for twenty years, I know he did it to follow in his fathers footsteps. He had three daughter's one of which was here with us, the other two along with his wife had died in the outbreak. He was very athletic for his age and could outrun most of the young recruits, his hair was the strangest colour I'd ever seen, I could describe it as ember orange. He had pastel blue eyes and tanned skin, which he got from spending most of his youth working on his parents farm, it was fortunate it some ways that they died ten years before all of this.
Molly was Fred's daughter and she was every bit as strong and gentle as her dad. Though I think she must have taken after her mother in looks, she had long auburn hair that fell to waist when it was down but she kept it tied u
p in a plaited bun at the back of her head. Her eyes were the same pale blue as Fred's but her skin unlike his was a stunning ivory colour. She joined the army to be with her dad as soon as she turned eighteen, sadly she didn't arrive long before the virus reached the UK.
'Sergeant Leroy I'd like you on my team,' I said softly. I watched him, carefully studying his expression. He was a Jamaican man with long dread locked hair a large nose, bulging brown eyes and a scar the ran down the left side of his face. I loathed this man, he was one of those that had killed the little girl.
He gave me a toothy grin as if in agreement, but I waited for verbal conformation before saying anything.
'Of course I'll join you,' he replied with somewhat creepy smile.
'If you would please assign some of your men, we'd like three of your men in each group,' I told him carefully choosing my words. He told his men who they would be going with, purposely forgetting all the woman's names in the group. He was clearly a sexist man, but I said nothing as I did not want any negative reports finding there way back to General Hawthorn.
After a another discussion about the mission objectives, we were all aware of what to do and where to go. We would set off as soon as we had gathered our weapons and transport. We didn't often use the cars as we had wanted to conserve the petrol, but the Sergeant had insisted on it.
While I let my troops gather what they needed I went to wait by the cars, we'd long since lost the regulation army vehicles so we had make do with civilian cars. It was fortunate that most of our cars were seven seater's, my car of choice was a 2009 Land Rover Discovery 3.0. Even though there was eight of us going, we simply pulled the back seats down and the inside boot roof off and found that eight people could easily fit inside. I was never much of a car guy but for some reason I just loved this car. It had air conditioning, alloy wheels, parking sensors and it was all leather inside. More importantly it handled like a dream.
'You ready?' Willow asked with a serious look on her face.
'As I'll ever be,' I replied quietly.
'Here take this,' she whispered handing me a silencer ready pistol. Strangely enough I wasn't fond using guns, I preferred hand-to-hand combat. When I was a child I loved films set before the age of modern weapons and I loved watching films that had sword fights in them. In my opinion using guns was taking the cowards way out, it was easy to point and shoot but to actually kill someone in hand-to-hand combat was much more difficult.
We got into the car while we waited for the others, Willow took the front passenger seat to which I was grateful as I did not want to be sat next to Leroy.
'Can I be honest for a moment?' Willow asked as we shut the doors.
'Sure, what's up?'
'I'm just worried about this mission, if even one of the groups fail we're all in trouble,' she said concernedly.
'I know how you feel, but all we can do is hope that our people come through. There is little else to be done, aside from letting these men takeover and kill innocent people,' I told her. She sat in silence as her hands shook slightly, for a single moment I forgot who I was and what we were, I took her hand in mine and looked at her beautiful sage eyes.
'I won't let anything happen to you or any of my people, I know we're taught in training that we are all expendable but that was the one lesson I never accepted. You and all of my people are important and I'd die for you,' I brought her hand to my mouth and kissed it softly.
She smiled at me and went to say something but before she could speak the car doors opened and everyone jumped in. She quickly pulled her hand away and returned to being simply a soldier. Along with Leroy we were accompanied by Joseph and Kitaro. Joseph was a tall athletic man with short golden brown hair, amber eyes and chalk white skin. He was one of the louder more rude member of Leroy's men. I couldn't stand him, but as with all of Leroy's men I kept my opinions away from their ears as to avoid trouble.
Kitaro was was Japanese man who looked to be in mid-thirties, he was a pitifully tiny height of 5'3. He had a long body with skinny, tiny legs and arms. Unlike the more manlier members of his groups he had no facial hair or hair on his arms or legs. He had yellowish skin with long straight shiny jet black hair and deep, dark chocolate coloured eyes that seemed to stare into space most of the time. From what I saw of him, he was a quiet man who kept to himself he seemed somewhat more polite than his peers but wondered if that was down to his heritage as the Japanese were known for their manners.
'We're all good to go,' Jack said plainly. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach as we set off to Greenfield, to kill them all. I could only hope that I wasn't inadvertently killing my people, if the General found out about this, we would all beg for death.
Chapter 18
Maggie
Since hearing that Nathaniel was alive, all I wanted to do was run to him. I knew Sanctuary was well guarded, so I had no chance of sneaking out. I was beginning to lose hope of ever getting out of here, I couldn't stand it, the lying, faking my feelings everyday. I hated it, but I couldn't let anyone know who I was. I felt lost here, like I didn't belong.
My family was happy for the most part, Frankie had become good friends with Delilah, they bonded over losing Nikkita. Jensen and Frankie were starting to get close again, though they hadn't quite found their way back to each other yet. Jade had recovered from being kidnapped, Finn had just left with Ellen to get back to his mum and sister. Vera had given them a car, much to everyone else's relief. They were all worried about them walking all that way back, Finn promised he'd radio in when he got there. He'd left his radio with us, so we could talk to him when he got back to the lab. Tamara and Bridget had become a thing, we were all happy for them. It was nice to see her all loved up, although I did find it funny. An Irish girl and a Scottish girl together, it wasn't something I thought I would see.
Today was Christmas eve, we knew because Vera and the others kept a home made calender. I was sat on an old tyre in the front garden of my house, Jensen, Jade, Tamara and Tessa had gone on a run. They wouldn't tell me what it was for, only that I was staying here. It frustrated me that my brother and the others kept me inside the compound, they kept saying I wasn't ready for the outside yet. I wish they'd see, that I wasn't the meek little girl any more like I was back at Jade's. I could handle myself against anything whether it was against the dead or the living.
'Hey, you must be freezing out here?' Delilah asked as she walked towards the house.
'No I'm alright, this coat's warm enough,' I replied. The ground was covered in six inches of snow, but I felt warm inside the large, puffy, fur hooded coat that Frankie had given me, not to mention the gloves and woolly hat I had on. My arse was a little cold, but I found the snow relaxing so I'd stayed out here for a while.
'Is Frankie home?' She asked.
'Yeah, she's just cleaning. Can I talk to you about her?'
'Sure, what's up?'
I got up out of the tyre and wiped the snow off my trousers.
'I don't want to sound like I'm being a bitch or anything, but I'm just worried that there's something going on between you,' I confessed. 'Oh, and why would you think that?' She said sounding a little annoyed. 'It might be none of my business, but my brother still loves her and I know she loves him. I don't want to see him get hurt, so if there's anything going on between you and Frankie please just tell Jensen now,' I told her.
She stood for a moment and just looked at me, I think she could tell I wasn't trying to be horrible. 'Your brother is lucky to have a sister like you watching over him,' she replied before going into the house.
She hadn't given me an answer, but there was nothing else I could do. I took a walk through the streets, watching as everyone laughed and talked about Christmas. It was strange, this was the first time since all this began that we were going to celebrate Christmas. With Vera's permission I'd raided her husbands wardrobe and found something for Jensen, Tessa had been on a run a couple of weeks ago and she'd brought back what I wanted for the others. Everyone
else was so excited, Jensen looked like a kid again, Jade was always smiling and Tamara was happier here than I'd ever seen her.
I, on the other hand was just faking it, I didn't care about Christmas or giving presents. I just played along with everyone. I honestly didn't know how all the people here had survived for so long, I mean sure they had walls, lookouts and guns but they were stupid, naïve people. How could they think of celebrating at a time like this? Just because they'd been out scouting and couldn't find Nathaniel's group, doesn't mean they were safe. Frankie and the others had gone about a month ago, they told us that the castle was empty.
I knew better than to believe he'd just give up on getting revenge, even if he wanted to, his men wouldn't let him. I sat down on the park, not caring that my arse was now numb. I kept to myself most of the time, I couldn't handle too much interaction with others. I made sure to keep out of Delilah's friends way, Delilah was alright with me but the others weren't. Ever since Casey killed herself, they'd been even more pissed off at me. I couldn't blame them to be honest, but it wasn't my fault Casey killed herself. It was her choice, I didn't make her do it. Same with the women from the compound, they still avoided me. At first it hurt, especially when Ellen dodged my visits. Now I just got on with it, I stopped caring, I closed myself off from people. I honestly couldn't give a shit what happened to them, but I put on the sorry, sad face to everyone else.
'Hey, how are you?' Brooke asked as she walked by.
'I'm alright, just thinking about stuff,' I told her fake smiling.
'Anything important?' She wondered.
'Nah, I'm just excited for tomorrow. It's been forever since I've had a Christmas,' I replied.
'We celebrate it every year here, Vera likes to make things as normal as possible.'
Stupid people, when would they realise things weren't normal and they never would be again.
'That's a good idea, keep peoples spirits up.'
'Well I'm heading back home, call round if you need anything,' she smiled as she left. 'Will do.' Not that I didn't like her, but she was weak, timid, she would never survive outside these walls. Nathaniel's men would have a field day with her, I bet she wouldn't even last a day with them before submitting. I snorted, barely any of the women here would be able to live on the outside. Even Vera, she was strong behind these walls, but I doubt she could handle it out there. They all had it easy here, I just hoped that when Nathaniel did come they would see sense and just let me go. As I got up and began walking home, I heard the gates open. No doubt it was Jensen and the others, I walked down to check and I was right.
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