by Garth Owen
"Maybe...." Maxine clasped one of the buggy's wheels, then lifted herself up until she was hanging from it. the vehicle hardly moved. She dropped down, found a piece of the frame that offered good leverage, and tried to lift the vehicle. It moved even less. "Maybe not."
"They can't be more than an hour or so behind us. I'll get on the radio and tell them we need the winch on one of the wagons to get this out of the way."
* * *
There was another chapter to add to the dead man's tale further along the road.
After the delay of moving all the wreckage, Georges and Maxine ran a closer point to the wagons, stopping to warn them of bad road conditions, rather than drawing symbols on the road.
Georges' bike was scratched and battered, but still ran fine. He didn't race ahead of Maxine any more, though. So they rolled into the blasted clearing side by side.
Oddly, it was the greenery that gave away the devastation that had been wrought. It was all light green, grown in the last few years, compared to the deep green of the woodland around it. Still, black, charred stumps and tumbled trunks could be seen poking through the foliage. In the middle of the rough circle of destruction were the rust brown, twisted remains of a buggy and a bike.
It could have been bones that crunched under the wheels of their bikes as they pulled to a halt beside the buggy remnants, they didn't check. "So, this is where it all started." Maxine said.
"Five vehicles, and at least five people. I've heard of Raider bands that small. Or they could have been scouting out a way into the Valley." Georges considered.
"This is.... I don't know, a year or two gone. But there's no sign that anyone's been this way to track them down." Maxine kicked the stand down and got off her bike to go and look at the buggy. "I just hope there aren't more of them out there who haven't killed each other."
They walked around the wrecks and checked the ground for further remnants, kicking over more rusty metal and finding a couple of possible bodies. None of them filled out the details in the story of all the dead Raiders, so Georges span a tale of fugitives from the big Raider camp in the next valley. After sneaking away, they had started fighting, first here, then further along, where the other wrecks had been. They would never know the true story, so this one would have to do.
The buggy and wagons arrived about ten minutes later. "You are not salvaging anything from any of this." Remy said, after pulling to a halt beside Maxine.
"I could find some. If I tried."
"And that is why we are moving right along. I do not want you two running too far ahead of us any more. Come back in and run point, rather than scouting so far ahead. That way, if you hit trouble we can charge in and help you."
"Okay, Papa. If you insist."
"Just a few more hours, and we'll stop for the day. You can get your thrills hunting something for us to eat."
Georges was talking to the women in the buggy. Maxine climbed aboard her bike and zipped it over. Pulling up on the opposite side of the buggy, she asked, "Is he telling you the tale of the dead Raiders? It's a good one."
"Maybe he can spin us it around the camp fire later." Sarah said.
"We'll run a little way ahead of you from now on, and check the corners. That sort of thing."
"Okay."
Maxine pulled on her helmet and smiled at Georges. "You'd best go and get your bike, because we're setting off right away."
"No movement in the town." Georges whispered down from the tree.
"Good to go." Maxine said into her radio.
"On our way." said the voice on the radio, too distorted to tell who it was.
"Do you want to get down from there? I can see the town perfectly well from down here."
"I thought I'd get a better perspective from up here." Georges started making his way down, trying to remember the hand holds he had used on the way up. He dropped the final metre or so. Slapping pine needles from his legs, he walked over to Maxine and the bikes. She took the compact binoculars from him, and studied the town through them.
There were few windows unbroken, and most of the doors had been smashed open. Surprisingly, the horde that had worked its way through all the buildings had set none on fire. The abandonment was older than the looting- here and there, creeping bushes had been ripped or trampled down to get into a house. Spotting movement, Maxine twitched the glasses a fraction of a degree and gently turned the focus ring.
A mountain goat, with big, curved and ridged horns, had sauntered around the corner of a house, and was studying its surroundings. Unconcerned, it gazed up and down the street it was on, then set to tugging straggly grass from a crack in what had been the pavement.
Handing the binoculars back, Maxine asked, "Did you spot a quick way down for us when you were up there? Does that path run all the way down to town?" She pointed at a wavering line, where the grass was slightly less dense than on either side of it, which led to another stand of trees.
"There is a path that comes out the other side of the trees. We should be able to join the two up."
"Okay then. As soon as they hit the edge of town, we head down to join them."
* * *
The buggy bounced and shook over ruts and rocks that the wagons just rolled over. The drainage gully running alongside the track had blocked up years before, and water had washed away the aggregate and sand that had made it smooth.
It didn't matter so much. The track bottomed out, and the stream had washed its way back to its old channel. The surface smoothed again, and the buggy accelerated up the slope. It got air for a moment as it crested the rise and hit the old road. Landing, it wiggled under braking, then twisted to point down the valley.
Wagon one's rear set of wheels was levered up as it crossed the rise. Remy adjusted the balance of power, and the other four wheels drew it easily onto the road. Wagon two tackled the obstacle with similar ease. The three vehicles rolled, in a staggered line, toward the town.
The once tarmacked road was smoother than the tracks they had been on for the last few days, but they didn't pile on the speed. In the buggy, Sarah stood and cocked the machine gun over her seat. Lucas was in the captain's chair of wagon one, Fabien in wagon two's. Guns were slung over the backs of the passenger and driver seats in each wagon, and the passengers had their weapon of choice on their laps.
Tony had an assault rifle at the ready, pointing at the open gap in the front of the side window. He studied everything to the sides of the little convoy, whilst Veronique concentrated on the road ahead. They passed the first building, an old petrol station, the pumps demolished and the windows sad and blank where they had been smashed in.
The town appeared deserted as they approached, and Georges and Maxine, looking down from the woods above the town, had reported no movement. But they were close to an area known to be full of Raiders, and were on full alert, just in case.
The road narrowed as they entered the town proper, and the three vehicles moved in so they were in line, running down the middle of the old street.
"I see.... No, it was just a goat." Fabien said over the intercom. Tony saw it, too, as they passed a side street. A dark brown blur, heading away from them at speed.
They entered the town square- once white painted shops and restaurants around a carved stone cross. Heading to the left of the monument, the buggy turned sharply and headed down a street out of town again. The mountains were a green and grey wall at the end of the road they were on, towering above the cluster of buildings that were their destination.
It had been a small factory complex, constructed after the layout of so many French farms. The buildings formed three sides of a yard, the fourth side being a wall with a tall, arched double gate. One side of the wood plank gate was part open, where Raiders or other scavengers had forced it. The roof of the left side building had sagged and dropped tiles through to the insides.
Buildings thinned out again as they proceeded toward their destination. There was a short open space between the edge of town and
the old factory. They sped up as they crossed it, then skidded to a halt before the gates.
Tony slotted the assault rifle into the space behind his seat. He checked the pistol holstered on his belt and grabbed a smaller machine gun. Jumping from the wagon, he sprinted to the gates.
There was just enough space to slide between the gates and get into the yard. Machine gun at the ready, Tony gave the weed strewn expanse a quick scan. No human had been through here in years, he decided. He hung the machine gun where he could reach it quickly, and turned to the gates.
The lower hanger of the open gate had rotted away, and the big wooden door sagged so that most of its bottom edge would scrape as he pushed it open. It was almost certainly too heavy for him to lift by himself. He looked for hand holds on the Z shaped bracing on the back of the door, because he was stubborn, and was going to try lifting it anyway.
With an extended crunch of tyres on loose surface, Georges and Maxine arrived. Both flushed from a rush downhill and through forest, they jumped from their rides and came over to help. The three of them lifted the gate just enough to be able to shuffle it open.
The second gate was held in place by a metal spike running down into a hole in the ground. Maxine tugged the spike up, and two of the hasps holding it to the gate came away. She removed it completely and tossed it aside. Unlike the other gate, this one still hung level and, apart from some complaints from the rust welded hinges, opened easily.
They hustled all the vehicles through the gates, then closed them again, leaving them as close as possible to their previous arrangement. From the outside, it would be hard to tell that anyone had come through the gates.
The larger, rear building butted up against cliff face, and had more than enough space for all the vehicles. The main doors had been left open by previous visitors so, after checking for obstructions, they just rolled the wagons inside.
The building was as tall as the two storey structures on its wings, but was open all the way to the roof. A lattice work of supports for a false roof, and trays for cabling, hung above them. The electric cable had been torn away where it came down the I beam pillars running down from the roof joists, but harder to reach lengths dangled down here and there. There were shallow puddles on the floor, their edges marking the seams where different sections of the poured concrete floor butted against each other. It smelt damp, with a less then pleasant undertone that told of animals using a corner as their toilet.
Everyone disembarked from their vehicles and looked around. It was almost a disappointment after the tense drive down the valley and through town. "So, what now?" Lucas asked.
Veronique was checking images on her tablet computer. Standing in the middle of the floor, she looked around to get her bearings, then walked to a section of the back wall. A chunk of render had fallen from high above. She picked up a piece, and scraped an X on the wall. She tapped it. "Someone needs to get a pick axe and start on breaking through here."
Lucas stepped back from the window and raised the rifle to his shoulder. He stared through the scope, back along the road they had come up, tracing its route back to the town. Gently adjusting the focus, he studied the buildings as far back as he could see.
There was movement. He panned slowly left and right until he caught it again. It was a goat. The one they had startled on the way into town, or a very similar animal.
Stepping back, he moved the rifle to the left, keeping it level. The dark, out of focus wall filled the scope, until he was looking out of the side window. From this position, at the end of the top floor of the building's West wing, he could see some way down the valley. Not far enough for his liking, he wouldn't spot any movement toward them until it had almost reached the edge of town. It wouldn't give them enough time to make a getaway, but that was why they were hiding. And they didn't plan to be here for long.
There were footsteps coming up the stairs. Lucas rested the rifle against the wall beside the window and turned to see who his visitor was.
"We got the wall down." Georges said. "We found some interesting stuff, including this." He unslung the big, cuboid pack he was carrying, and started unzipping it.
"What is that, then?"
"We found something to take over watch duty from you."
"Good, cause it's boring as hell. But sort of tense and stressful as well. Is this what it's been like for them all the time they were out here?"
"Not like our little scouting missions, eh?"
"Always back by bedtime, or we get put under curfew. These last few days have almost made me miss it."
"I'm enjoying it."
"Of course you are."
Inside the bag, there were two devices- egg shaped things atop a complicated tangle of struts and hinges. Georges lifted one from the protective foam, and carried it across to the town facing window. He tugged at some of the struts, and they unfolded into a tripod to support the egg. Lucas watched as he adjusted the legs until the structure was stable, the blunt end of the egg facing the window. Georges stepped back and studied it. "Okay. I've forgotten what comes next. There are instructions in the bag, can you get them."
In a pocket in the top of the bag was a large piece of glossy paper, folded several times to fit. Lucas opened it as he walked it over, revealing step by step image instructions. "You, er.... There's a catch, under there." He pointed at the picture, and Georges found the catch, which released the domed cap and revealed a pair of lenses and a panel of control buttons.
"Press that one." Lucas indicated, deeply involved in the process, even though he didn't know what they were supposed to be doing.
"Go on, you press it." Georges unclipped the radio from his belt. "This is the West wing. We're going to turn the first one on now. Over."
Lucas pressed the button the instructions indicated, and held it for a count of ten.
"West wing. We have images from you. Over." the radio said.
"Okay. We are going to set up the second one. Don't discover anything else cool until we get back. Over."
"No promises. Over and out."
"Well, I suppose we should speed up a bit then." said Lucas, heading for the second camera.
* * *
There had been a second wall section behind the one Veronique had marked. Between them was a thick, solidly packed layer of insulation. Hit the wall and you would hear a dull thud, rather than the reverberation that would reveal the void behind it. The section wouldn't feel any colder, or draw condensation, either.
The double layering had drawn some strong language, but they had broken a human sized hole into the first room of the vault. Lights had started coming on as soon as the first brick was pushed through. They had all leapt back from the wall, fearing automated defence systems the plans said weren't there.
Mocking themselves, they had slowly returned to the task, and, not long after, Maxine had wriggled her way through the gap. There was no way they could have stopped her. Justine, also short and slim, had followed a moment later.
The room was really the entrance to a cave. It had been worked, possibly going back centuries, but the most recent tool marks were from when it had been converted into the entrance to a secure vault. The scars of digging and blasting were covered in places by concrete to make even walls and a flat floor. The rear quarter of the space was given over to an entirely man made square arch, wrapped around a gigantic, dark door. The frame of the door had been welded and bolted together from thick sections of steel, then filled with concrete. When it rolled or swung aside, the opening was going to be big enough that both wagons might fit through side by side.
"How did they hide that they were building this?" Justine said, staring up at the mighty door.
"The world was crazy for years when things started collapsing. All sorts of things were missed, or forgotten about really quick. We've chased this all over Europe. The people who made this place were incredibly organised."
"But, how did they keep it secret from the people in town? Where did all the stone they
removed go?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if most of the stone went into bits of the cave that they didn't use."
Justine shook her head. "And you've found more of these?"
"Only one near to this scale. But we've found plenty of places where people holed up as the world went to shit. Still, this is the biggest. Even this bit here is more impressive than what we usually find."
The space was barely wider or taller than the door it led to, made narrower by racks of shelving. They would need to clear out this storage before the wagons could come through, so, as the sounds of hammering started up again, they worked their way along either side of the cave, digging for treasure.
There was defence equipment in the room, but none of it was deployed. This was a bounty for a recovery team- everything they would need to set up a high tech perimeter while they went about their work. Just like the vault in Spain, everything was robust, and there was a power source somewhere deep below them that had kept batteries charged and ready.
By the time the hole was large enough to step through, Maxine and Justine had discovered the sentry cameras, and were seeing what they could hide behind to escape the heat sensors. There was a booth full of screens to view the camera feeds on, loaded with technology that made Veronique weak at the knees.
Now, they had cameras set up to watch the valley, and Veronique had a second tablet, which flicked between views as movement was detected. She kept checking it, but her attention was on the door. In the end, Tony took the new tablet from her- she didn't like relinquishing technology- so that she could concentrate on the plans and blueprints on her old tablet.
The whole crew was arrayed before the door as Veronique walked back and forth, studying it. There were metal plates held in place by bolts all the way around the arch. Some of them were remnants of the frame that had been used to hold the concrete in place as it set. Two hid the mechanism that released the door. Veronique tapped one to the right of the door and another to the left. Remy and Fabien stepped up to release the panels.
