‘Yes, and I’m sure Emma would be grateful for some pampering things for herself, as well as feminine hygiene products.’
‘That’s a good idea. I’m sure Bill would like some more whisky and brandy, and he needs more shotgun cartridges. I know we’ve got a good supply at the moment, but we’ll need to see if we can find a local supplier where we can stock up for ourselves, anyway.’
‘The house where you got the shotguns from: where did they use?’
‘I was just thinking the same thing myself,’ he replied, smiling. ‘I’ll walk there and have a look around- won’t be long.’
He put on his coat and boots then left, after picking up the Smith and Wesson and putting it in his pocket. He walked a few streets away to the house where he’d found the guns and went up to the study. He rooted through the desk, finding an address book containing the names of various suppliers to the shooting fraternity, along with flyers, business cards and pamphlets obtained from gun clubs and shooting competitions. He sorted through them all; some were internet-based companies but there were also details of gunsmiths and suppliers in the south. He found there was a gun and shooting-supplies store on the outskirts of St. Leonards and Hastings, on the road to Battle. Perfect! He took the pamphlet and went back to the bungalow.
Max greeted him like he’d been gone for hours, rather than just thirty minutes, as usual. He relayed the news to Jane and said they could stop there first on the way to Battle. They now had a small fleet of six vehicles at their disposal, depending on their requirements: their two cars, the Land Rover, the Toyota pickup, the BMW estate and the Escort RS2000. They decided to take the Land Rover as it had a covered load area, and they never knew what they might find and need to bring back with them, or where they might need to drive; its four-wheel drive could come in handy.
They packed a few things into Jamie’s rucksack, along with his sawn-off, and put some tools in the back of the truck. Jane took an over and under shotgun into the cab along with a box of cartridges, then Max climbed in and she closed the door on him. She went to open the garage door but stopped for a second and turned to Jamie.
‘I was just thinking; are we sure we’re going to be able to get into this place? I mean, if it’s a gun store then security’s going to be bloody good, isn’t it? Do you think a wrecking bar and bolt cutters are going to be enough?’
‘Hmm… You could be right. Good thinking, Batman! I’ll bring the welding gear, too.’ She grinned at him. He climbed from the cab and got the small oxy-acetylene bottles on their wheeled rack then hoisted them into the back of the truck. He also picked up the welding face mask, some leather gauntlets, a leather apron and a flint striker to light the torch. Jane opened the garage door for him to drive out, closing it again after him.
Driving along the new link road they were there in less than fifteen minutes. They had an address for the gun-supplies store on The Ridge West, but turned left initially at the roundabout and had to double back once they realised they’d gone the wrong way, before finding it. They drove onto the drive of a large house with a shop to one side and got out; Jamie sounded the horn several times but there was no one around. Security was very good; understandable given the nature of the premises. Behind the door and windows was a security roller shutter and there was little chance they could have broken through it with just the tools they had originally planned to take. Jamie got back in the truck and repositioned it with the tow-bar pointing at the middle of the door, then reversed into it. The glass in the door was obviously toughened as it didn’t shatter, but the tow-bar had punched a hole through and cracked the surrounding glass.
He pulled the truck forward, got out, and then with the wrecking bar and hammer he was able to remove the glass from the door frame. He unloaded the gas bottles, put on the face mask, apron and gloves, lit the welding torch and then cut an entrance through the shutter big enough for them to get through. They put Max back in the cab because of the broken glass then went inside.
There were many racks with new and used shotguns, hunting rifles and air rifles, along with boxes of ammunition of every description on shelves. After searching for a while, Jamie located the size of cartridge suitable for their guns and they carried many boxes in varying shot sizes out to the truck, both for them and for Bill. He also found boxes of AAA cartridges, which was large buckshot; each pellet was around 5mm diameter and they would be very effective against large game. He selected a nice over and under shotgun to give to Bill as a second gun, broke it open and loaded it with two AAA cartridges then closed it and slid the safety catch on. They had four shotguns already, so didn’t really need any more.
‘What about a couple of hunting rifles with telescopic sights?’ suggested Jane. ‘They could be useful.’
‘Good idea; you’re right.’ He grinned at her.
He didn’t know anything about rifles and the variation in calibres was rather bewildering: a rifle would be chambered for a specific type and calibre of round. Looking at the shelves of ammunition there were boxes of .223 Remington, 30-06 Springfield and over fifteen other calibres.
He chose a calibre that he’d heard of from films and books, which was .308 Winchester. He checked carefully to find two rifles chambered for that round and found two Howa Hunter rifles with lovely walnut stocks, which he took out to the truck, along with bags for the guns and many boxes of ammunition. He also picked out a few books from the shelf on rifles and shooting, along with manuals for the two guns, just as he had done with the shotguns; it would be worth reading up on them so they knew how to maintain them properly.
They got back in the cab, started the truck and headed off to Battle. They got there within ten minutes and drove slowly past Battle Abbey, where they saw the remains of two corpses on the pavement by the gates: a pair of crows were picking at them. They continued up the high street, looking around: almost every shop had been broken into and glass littered the pavements, along with much rubbish, leading Jamie to wonder if there were more survivors here, as it was something they hadn’t encountered as much of in Bexhill.
‘Doesn’t necessarily follow, though;’ said Jane, ‘it could have been just one person did it.’
‘Yes, that’s true.’
They carried on slowly up the hill, turned around by Mount Street and parked outside the country clothing shop, whose door was broken and standing open. They got out, leaving Max in the cab again because of broken glass on the pavement, and entered the shop. Jane carried her shotgun by its strap on her shoulder, but Jamie left his in the cab with Max. Looking through the racks of clothing, they found Barbour waxed jackets in their sizes and tried them on. Jane put on a Barbour hat, too, and posed with her shotgun and a smile on her face.
‘What d’you reckon, Jamie? D’you think I’ll fit in with the Sussex hunting set?’
He grinned and chuckled. ‘Oh, I think you’ll do. In fact, at the moment, we probably are the Sussex hunting set!’ They both laughed.
They picked out some comfortable moleskin trousers, various shirts, a couple of hats and some waxed over-trousers, along with two coats each and several tins of re-proofing wax. They carried them out to the truck and Jane got into the cab. Jamie was securing the tailgate when he heard movement behind him. He turned and saw four young men coming from the alley beside the shop. They were in their late teens or early twenties and all four were armed; two with baseball bats, one with a hammer and one with a machete.
They stopped a few yards from him. He knew they were trouble and weighed up the situation, thinking that his sawn-off was in his rucksack in the cab. They’d only been a few yards away while in the shop so hadn’t thought to take both guns in with them. The new shotgun was loaded and within reach, but he didn’t think he’d be able to spin round and pick it up in time so he waited, counting on Jane. The guy with the machete spoke first.
‘Take that stuff out and put it back, mate. This is our town now and no one comes here without our say-so and takes stuff.’
Jamie tried
to stall them, thinking Come on Jane, where are you? ‘Your town?’
‘Yeah, that’s right,’ he replied, ‘this is our town now. We’ve taken over this place, and no one’s gonna come here and…’
He stopped in mid-sentence as Jane climbed from the cab and came quickly to the back of the vehicle, with Jamie’s sawn-off up to her shoulder and aimed at the guy’s face. She’d been leaning over in the cab playing with Max: they hadn’t seen her there and she hadn’t seen them approach, but had heard them speaking. She’d reached down quickly to Jamie’s pack and pulled out the sawn-off; the over/under shotgun in the cab was too long for this situation.
The guy stood there with his mouth open, staring down the barrels, before speaking again. ‘Listen, lady…’
Jamie spun round and reached into the back of the truck, pulled out the new shotgun and held it at waist-level, sliding the safety off as he pointed it at them.
‘No, you listen!’ said Jane furiously. ‘I’ve had a fucking bad time recently! I’ve been shot and almost raped; I’ve already killed one bloke and my friend here has killed another two. Frankly, I’m getting pissed-off with wankers like you who think they can behave like this towards other survivors. You know, right now I’m just really tempted to fire both barrels; from this angle I could take out all four of you little shits!’
Behind them, in the cab, Max was barking loudly. All four guys looked nervous. ‘Hold on a second, lady…’ the man began, but Jane interrupted him again.
‘SHUT UP! We’re getting in the truck and driving away with our clothes. And we’ll come back whenever we want to; without your say-so. Now, if you don’t FUCK OFF right now I’m going to unload in your face!’
The four guys looked nervously at each other then back at the shotguns, and especially at the scary woman with the sawn-off. They backed away, turned round and walked back to the alley. Jamie went round to the cab, jumped in and started the engine. Jane waited until they were several yards down the alley then climbed into the cab and Jamie roared off down the hill. He looked across at Jane, who was red in the face. She puffed her cheeks out, let out a big breath and then burst out laughing.
‘Oh my God! That was probably the most exhilarating moment of my life! To see them looking scared of me… Wow! You were right last week when you said no one’s going to fuck with me if I was pointing a sawn-off at them! How did I sound?’
‘Scary- very scary! And where on earth did “I’m going to unload in your face” come from?’
She sniggered. ‘I remembered it from Pulp Fiction; do you remember Tim Roth says it to Samuel Jackson in the diner near the end? I thought it sounded appropriately menacing and cold-blooded!’
‘Well, it certainly did the trick!’ he said, and they both laughed. Max was beside himself with excitement, bouncing across the seat between them.
They left Battle at a more sedate pace and had a steady drive back to Bexhill, stopping off first at the two new sites where they’d laid snares that morning. They found one rabbit at the Down Road location and another one at the woods by the railway. They’d hoped for more, but were delighted to have two, anyway. They drove home and unloaded their things into the bungalow after parking the truck in the garage.
Once in the kitchen Jamie poured two whiskies and gave one to Jane; she downed it in one go and stood looking at him. She was still feeling exhilarated by the encounter and threw her arms around him, kissing him forcefully on the lips. He responded in kind and then they were grappling with each other’s clothes and heading for the bedroom.
Shared danger and life-threatening situations can be a great aphrodisiac, and this was certainly true in their case, but it was more than just that; they’d got to know each other well and become very close in a short space of time due to their circumstances. It was a life-affirming act: they were alive and almost everyone else was dead, and all their fear, grief, loneliness and gratitude at finding each other came out at that moment.
They lay for a long time afterwards holding each other, before getting dressed and going back to the kitchen to cook their evening meal from the left-over pheasant. Jamie opened a bottle of wine and they raised their glasses in a silent toast. Jane touched his arm affectionately and they smiled at each other.
Sixteen
Jane spent that night with Jamie in the bungalow, but in the weeks ahead would sleep mostly in her place; spending nights together whenever the mood took them. By late-morning on the Monday the bad weather was blowing over, with the sky beginning to clear from the west. While it was still raining early on, they prepared the rabbits they’d collected the previous evening and cooked one for preserving, saving the largest one for meals over the next two days. Max, as usual, was pleased to get the remains and ate them in the garden.
Jamie stripped down all four shotguns and cleaned them, more for practice than from necessity, as well as reading the manual for the hunting rifles and doing the same with them. Jane worked with him as she knew it was important that she could do the same, in the event that she was on her own and a gun jammed, for instance. When the weather cleared up they walked to the bottom of the garden and opened the gate to have some practice shots with the rifles. Jamie fetched a patio chair and an old cushion from the garage to rest on, and they selected posts on several groynes on the beach at increasing distances to shoot at.
Jamie fired the first shot and they got the shock of their lives; neither had been prepared for the loudness of a shot from a high velocity rifle, and their ears were ringing. It was far removed from the dull report of a shotgun, which itself was loud enough.
‘Bugger that!’ he said, and went back to the garage. He rummaged around in his tool boxes to find two pairs of ear defenders and gave a pair to Jane. Max, who had followed them, retreated after the first shot and lay down under the porch. They each fired several shots at the posts, increasing the distance each time up to about three hundred yards, and she proved to have a better eye than him. Satisfied that they knew what they were doing and could handle the rifles, they went back inside for lunch.
After they’d eaten they made ready to leave for Bill and Emma’s, via Sainsbury’s warehouse. They decided to take the BMW estate from Jane’s garage for a run, but first had to jump-start it from one of the trucks as the battery was low. They laid flat the rear seats to give a bigger load area, put in their bags and two shotguns, then Max jumped in and they headed off. Jane drove this time and she parked in the yard by the loading bay, leaving the engine running to charge the battery. Jamie walked around to the front, through the store to the warehouse and opened the doors.
Jane walked through to the store and went along the aisles picking feminine things for Emma along with sanitary pads, tampons and other hygiene products from what remained. On reflection, she realised that Sally might well be old enough to need them too, so she picked things for her as well. Meanwhile, in the warehouse Jamie was collecting boxes of whisky and brandy, along with cartons and crates of fizzy drinks, crisps, snacks and sweets; some of it for Bill and Emma and the rest for themselves. Jane wheeled her trolley through and they loaded everything into the car. She had also picked up some nice treats for Max and gave him a couple for being so patient. There was a lot of broken glass in the aisles that could cut his feet so they’d left him in the car.
It didn’t take long to get to Hooe and as they pulled into the yard they saw one of the roller shutters up and Bill working inside the barn. He didn’t recognise the car and came out with his shotgun, but put it down again when he saw it was them. He waved and came to greet them.
‘Well, this is a nice surprise,’ he smiled. ‘I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.’ He kissed Jane and shook hands with Jamie.
‘No, well, we decided to come back with some things for you as a thank-you for your kindness the other day,’ said Jane.
Bill waved it off, saying there was no need for that, and Jamie said ‘Well, we wanted to, anyway, and thought there were some things you might like. We both felt it was ni
ce to be doing something for other people for a change, rather than just surviving every day and fending for ourselves.’
‘That’s good of you; thanks,’ replied Bill. The door to the house opened and Sally came bounding out: Max barked excitedly and jumped up at her and she gave him a big hug. Emma came out wiping her hands on her apron; she had evidently been baking. She hugged and kissed them both, saying how nice it was to see them, and invited them inside. Bill followed them in and they sat in the kitchen while Emma made tea. Jamie and Jane sat next to each other, with Bill and Emma on the other side of the table.
They sat chatting and Jamie told them about their encounter in Battle the day before, and how Jane had sent the young guys off with their tails between their legs at the barrel of a sawn-off. ‘You should have seen her,’ he said. ‘She could have been in a Quentin Tarantino film!’
Jane blushed slightly while Bill smiled and nodded his head, and Emma reached across and patted her hand. ‘Good for you, my dear! Well done.’
Emma got up and served them tea, along with a slice of apple pie that she had baked using last season’s apples, served with thick fresh cream. They tucked into it with enthusiasm, licking their lips and complimenting Emma on the pie. They told them how they were having some success with the rabbit snares and had moved them around to different locations, and also about the pheasant they had shot on their way there the other day.
‘When you leave,’ Bill said, ‘you want to stop off about a mile down the road. There’s a big oak tree on the left with a field behind it and there’s always pheasant out in the open there. I know you see them on the road often, but that’s a good spot for them.’ They thanked him and said they would stop there on the way back. Peter came in through the back door, said hello and asked how they were. He made himself a drink, saying he couldn’t stay as he had to get back to work and said goodbye before going back out.
The Hoffmann Plague Page 14
