‘You need a hand?’ Said a voice from in the corridor. Sergeant Davis held the door for me as I left the room. He took the key from my mouth and locked the door for me, putting it in my back pocket.
‘You’re keen,’ he smiled. ‘I thought you’d be asleep by now.’
‘I should be, everyone else is’ I replied, as we made our way down the corridor. He opened the door to the bar area, as I continued towards the wash room.
‘Do you fancy a beer when you have finished Nathan? I have some questions for you.’
‘About what?’
‘I’ll tell you in, say, twenty minutes?’
‘OK.’
I continued into the wash room, and threw all our clothes into one of the large sinks, that was already full of water. I poured in some washing detergent, and stirred the clothes with a large wooden spoon, that I found next to the sink. I decided to leave the clothes to soak, and would pick them up after a drink in the bar. When I opened the door to the pub, there was a definite ‘You’re not from around here’ moment, as the whole bar stopped and turned around to face me, standing nervously at the door. ‘Come and sit here’ shouted Sergeant Davis, sat at the bar. He pulled a bar stool out, and slapped the wooden seat. ‘I’ve saved you a place, come and meet some of the lads.’ I walked over to the bar, still intrigued as to what he wanted to ask me about. ‘This big guy here is ‘Rhino’ he said, slapping his huge shoulders. That’s Murphy on the end, and Keane behind the bar.’ They all acknowledged me with either a nod or a wave, as a younger looking soldier walked over carrying six bottles of beer, which he handed out. ‘And this is my little brother Ian’ continued Sergeant Davis, ‘But everyone calls him Little D.’
‘I wish they wouldn’t’ he whispered as he handed me a bottle.
‘Thanks, why Little D? I asked.
‘Just Little Davis’ he replied, looking like he was fed up of answering the same question.
‘He’s followed his brother everywhere’ said Keane, with a smirk on his face. ‘Same school, same college and now same army reserve.’
‘He just chose the same places I wanted to go to, a few years before me’ responded Little D.
‘I’m happy he’s following in my footsteps’ said Sergeant Davis, putting his arm around his brother.
‘So what did you want to ask me about Davis?’ I said.
‘Call me Chris. I wanted to speak to you about your journey through Scotland. We’ve heard worrying reports of cannibalism, and kuru, spreading down the country from Edinburgh.’
‘What’s kuru? I’ve seen it painted on signs next to dead bodies, burned and mutilated.’
‘That’s why I wanted to speak to you about it, to see if you have any information that could be useful. Kuru is an incurable degenerative neurological disorder, a disease spread by eating the flesh of humans, normally after they have died.’
‘I did see it, close to Edinburgh, groups of disgusting human beings, or what once were human. There were large groups, and individuals, all at different stages of infection. In the early stages, there seemed to be a tribe mentality.’
‘If this thing is spreading, it could become a real problem, we have to destroy it at its core, and do it soon. There’s a meeting about it tomorrow, the soldiers meeting, at eight am. A team is going to be-’
‘He’s not a soldier’ snarled Keane, ‘He doesn’t belong at that meeting.’
‘Pull your head in Keane’ shouted Sergeant Davis. ‘This is not a regular war. I must apologise for Keane, he still thinks the Government are paying our wages, and he is fighting for Queen and country.’
‘Fuck you Davis’ retorted Keane, as he stormed off, out of the pub.
‘Sorry about that, he’s had a bit too much to drink. He’s harmless really, so long as he hasn’t got a sniper rifle in his hand.’
‘He’s a typical fucked up solider,’ said Little D, ‘We’re all fucked up, and use alcohol to hide it.’
‘I think you could have an insight into what we will have to deal with’ said Sergeant Davis, ‘If you’re interested, I’m sure General Morris would be grateful for any information. The meeting takes place at eight am on the third floor, just follow the noise, it can get fairly rowdy.’
I asked Sergeant Davis if he had a new diary I could use, he looked behind the bar and found a hardback note book, which he gave me. I finished my beer, said good night to the lads, and picking up my new diary headed back to the wash room to collect our clothes, with a promise I would attend the soldiers meeting. I rinsed the clothes, then wrung them out as best I could, and carried them back to my room where I hung them up to dry on the bathroom door and windowsill. Everyone was still asleep, I re-covered them all with their blankets, and sat on my bed with my new diary and torch to start a new entry.
25/11/27 - Time 12:50
The short sharp blast from the alarm woke everyone in our room, but as they rolled over and went back to sleep, I looked at my watch and got up. Josh stirred, and turned to face me, he never said a word, he just watched me get dressed. ‘You OK Josh? Get another hours sleep and I’ll wake you up for breakfast.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘I’m just going to a meeting about the camp, Bernard is still in the room with you.’ I tucked him back into bed and he turned onto his side and closed his eyes. I checked I still had the key, and left the room, almost walking into Sergeant Davis in the corridor. ‘You look like you stayed in the bar a bit too long’ I joked, as he tucked his uniform in while trying to hide a yawn.
‘Maybe’ he replied, as we made our way to the stairs in reception. We joined a couple more men on the stairs, and not wanting to be late, took the steps two at a time. On the third floor, we found ourselves in a large function room, maybe the length of the entire hotel. There was a low rumble of voices, as everyone made their way to their designated lines, and I followed Sergeant Davis. ‘Late again Davis’ said the solider in the line opposite. ‘You’re making a habit of this. Every morning you wake up and you’re still drunk.’
‘Every morning you wake up you’re still a prick’ Sergeant Davis spat back. The soldier was a tall, thin, strange looking fellow, with no chin, and an unusual way of holding himself. Sergeant Davis later told me the soldier was Sergeant Welsh, one of seven hundred and seventy three sergeants at Camp Blue. He was in charge of an offensive squad ‘The Red Devils Company,’ who Sergeant Davis considered in direct competition with his own squad, ‘Blue and White Company,’ for the best jobs. He was hated by everyone, especially his own men, with running odds within the camp as to who was the most likely to put a bullet in his head during a battle. By eye there was around two hundred soldiers, and a look at their uniforms suggested they were all sergeants. The room was busy, with around another thirty men dressed in regular clothes, a true snapshot of the male species. From the old to the young, and the fat to the thin.
Ahead of the mass of bodies was a wooden stage, six feet off the ground. Three soldiers walked on from a door at the back, as the room hushed sensing their arrival. Two soldiers stayed in the shadows, as one walked to the front ‘Men, whatever you have heard about the coming battle, is a load of old horseshit. If you think we have already won this war, before it’s even started, you can fuck right out of my sight, you don’t belong here. Most people do not belong here, and most of you will not see much past tomorrow. You are all here as you have some experience of fire arms, but that alone will not put you in a uniform. If you are still standing after the following five days, you will be put forward for selection. Please exit by the door on the far left, and Private McCoy will take you to the boot room, where you will be given your uniform.’
As the room started to empty of new recruits, leaving just seasoned military behind, Sergeant Davis spotting my hesitation, pointed to the floor by his side.
‘Sergeants’ declared Ge
neral Morris, as one officer stood next to him handed him a sheet of paper. ‘We have a few discussion points this morning, before we get onto the main subject of Kuru. First, Sergeant Quinn, I have spoke to you about your squad and the security of this camp, and yet I am having to bring this subject up again. Can you explain to me what the fuck you are doing?’ The room fell silent, as Sergeant Quinn tried to respond.
‘I assume you’re referring to Private Ward, who fell asleep on his post again last night. He will be dealt with severely.’
‘This is not the first time, if it happens again Sergeant Quinn it will be the last, do you understand?’
‘Yes sir.’
‘Sergeant Charles, arrests of Torriero’s men seems to have tailed off, what is the situation?’
‘During the month of October we had thirty four arrests, and in early November we were expecting a similar total. But the last two weeks have seen no arrests sir.’
‘How many more prisoners can we safely hold?’
‘We have a total number of arrests, one hundred and twenty seven, with room for probably another one hundred.’
‘As the enemy do not appear to be surrendering in the same number, I want you to break off from your attempts on extending the prison area, and concentrate on Torriero’s movements. We have had reports from within Torriero’s camp, that they’re planning an attack on Security Post Whiskey, possibly as early as next week. Take a six man team, and keeping your distance, peg where their vehicles and men seem to be heading. Also, I want an update on how many men they have fighting for them, the last figure of two thousand is a month old.’
‘Yes sir.’
Sergeant Davis explained that Camp Blue camp had an undercover officer that had infiltrated Torriero’s army, and sends back information, but as yet that information has been hit and miss. The identity of this individual was top secret, only the generals of Camp Blue knew who he was.
‘Why doesn’t he just take Torriero out?’ I asked.
‘If he does, he would have to plan it down to the finest detail. It would be a suicide mission, Torriero has his men around him at all times, if you make an attempt, you better not miss. If you get caught, I don’t want to imagine what they’d do to you.’
‘Sergeant Welsh, I have a new job for you.’ Snapped General Morris.
‘Yes sir,’ he enthused, sending a sly grin in Sergeant Davis’ direction.
‘The hotel has three thousand rooms, the camp is almost at full capacity, with-’ He looked over his right shoulder, to the soldier stood by his side, who approached and spoke into his ear, before he continued. ‘We can only take another two thousand people, I need a team to set up another camp at location D, which I believe was scouted by ‘Red Devils Company.’
‘That’s correct General Morris.’
‘I want you to take a six man team, and secure the building, before clearing the surrounding area of any of Torriero’s men. We need a new location up and running within eight weeks.’
I hadn’t realised the hotel was as big as it was, Sergeant Davis explained it had been built in the nineteen eighties, by a Latvian multi millionaire, who wanted to transform Blackpool into a ‘Little Vegas.’ The recession, and subsequent bankruptcy of Blackpool put the mockers on that plan, the hotel has since sat empty for years. General Morris opened the room for questions, of which there was only one.
‘Sergeant Livsey, The Terriers Company. Do you have any further reports from the team sent out to observe the large aircraft over Birmingham?’
‘Information is still thin on the ground regarding the aircraft. All we know is it’s around the size of two football pitches, and travels at a very slow speed. It was first reported hovering over Cardiff, and has since been spotted over Bristol, Oxford and Coventry. It has remained in the sky over the respective areas for days at a time, seemingly idle, what it’s doing we don’t as yet know.’
‘If it became hostile, are we in a position to act?’
‘We will continue to observe it, and if action is needed we are in a position to do so, with around ten operational tanks at our disposal. We have also received confirmation from The Blades Company, that Century Mill in Sheffield was being used to house females, before they were killed, and then their bodies disposed of. This brings the current total of mills to fifteen, with still a couple of sites to check. An operation to destroy all mills used for this purpose will be made a priority, hopefully as soon as we have a complete picture.’
General Morris then moved onto the main subject of kuru, the reason we were all gathered here. ‘Davis, I want you to take ‘Blue and White Company’ and complete a reconnaissance mission fifty miles south west of Edinburgh, in a hundred mile radius, and see if you can find any evidence of kuru.’
‘We have received new intel from Nathan Driver,’ Sergeant Davis responded, turning to point me out to General Morris. ‘He has witnessed first hand, cannibalism and humans displaying the signs of kuru, on his journey down from Scotland.’
‘Speak up son, what did you see?’
‘I saw people at different stages of the disease, in groups and on their own. Camps where they would feast on the bodies of children, drinking and celebrating like they were eating a pig. The remains of bodies, half eaten, sometimes there were only bones left.’
General Morris turned around and walked to the soldiers behind him, where they talked for a few minutes, but we were unable to hear the conversation. After a short discussion, he returned to the front and continued.
‘I’m sorry to have to put your company forward to front such a dangerous job again, so close to the last one where you suffered a casualty, but I feel ‘Blue and White Company’ are the best equipped team to head this operation. I am giving you permission to use deadly force, to rid this disease and all infected. Have you filled the empty position within your team?’
‘I was hoping I could convince Driver to try for selection’ he said, turning to face me.
‘I don’t know’ I replied, not enjoying being put on the spot. ‘I have only just arrived. I would need to speak to the children before I made any discission.’
‘You need to complete at least four days basic training Mr Driver, and I want ‘Blue and White Company’ to move out on the third, which gives you until the morning to make your decision, and complete your training, with enough days to finish.’
‘I will speak to them at breakfast, and give you my decision by the end of the day.’
With that the meeting ended, and the room emptied. I walked back down to the first floor with Sergeant Davis, and talked about my reservations. He understood it was a hard decision for a man in my position, who had only just arrived, and had children who relied on him. In our room, the children were all up, and Bernard was washing them with the water from the bath. ‘I’m using the bottled water for their teeth,’ he said, holding their toothbrushes over the sink as he poured water over them. Emma washed her mouth out with the bottled water, and spat it into the sink. ‘Hi dad’ she said, running over to give me a hug. ‘I had the best sleep ever.’
‘That’s great’ I replied, turning to the brothers, ‘Did you both sleep well?’
They nodded their heads as they brushed their teeth. We got the children dressed and walked down the corridor to the dining hall, remembering to bring our food cards.
The cards had our name, age, room number and floor written on. It also listed Sergeant Davis as our camp representative.
At the entrance, the solider signed them and we headed in. The room was around the same size as the bar opposite, down the left hand side was a line of gas hobs, each with its own canister, and an army cook preparing the breakfasts for our floor. The rest of the room was covered with five rows of tables and chairs filling the floor. ‘Look dad,’ said Emma, running to the first table. ‘It’s Beth and Nancy, can we sit with them dad, ple
ase?’
‘There’s not enough places for all of us’ I replied, acknowledging their dad, who smiled back. We sat at a table three down from them, and Bernard and I queued for the breakfast, which we brought back to the table. Fried corned beef, beans in tomato sauce and toast. For a few moments I pondered how to bring up the subject of me leaving, before just coming straight out with it. ‘I have to ask you all something, I don’t think you’re going to like it but I’m going to ask anyway.’ They all looked at me, waiting for my news. ‘I have been asked to try out for Sergeant Davis’s Company, and join them on a mission.’
‘We’ve only just got here’ retorted Emma, with a concerned look on her face. ‘I don’t want you to go.’
‘I didn’t think you would’ I replied. ‘But I think it’s something I must do for peace of mind.’
‘What’s the mission?’ Bernard asked. I told him what it would entail, and why I felt like I needed to be involved.
‘I still have nightmares about what I saw in the Pentland Hills, it made me sick to the stomach. I also feel helping to destroy it will bring me some closure.’ The boys remained silent through the whole of breakfast, but Emma told me exactly how she felt about it, and she was not happy. But I told them, they would be so busy with fun things to do, they wouldn’t miss me at all. Bernard told me not to worry about the children, he would be fine looking after them. We finished our breakfast at around ten to ten, and headed to the third floor for the newcomers meeting. The room was busier than the early meeting, with all types of humanity accounted for. There were males and females, from old to young. The room was buzzing with excitement and apprehension. It quietened down as four soldiers arrived on the stage, and formed a line in front of us.
Aftermath: The complete collection Page 28
