by Lee Wade
Is this true? Adele asked David? Yes, he replied, we came here a few months ago and there was no one using the boat yard, we took the fuel from the tank that time, but it was empty this time, so as the boats have never been used since the outbreak we thought it would be okay to take the fuel from them. If we had known it belonged to someone, we wouldn’t have taken it. The fuel is still there, please just take it back, we don’t want any trouble.
You said we, Adele replied, who are we and why have we come to the cresent?
I was bought to the cresent by your men. We only wanted fuel to get us on our way. We came to Amble looking for somewhere to stay, like here in the cresent. We’ve been here before and we were made welcome, we didn’t know others were running things now.
You still haven’t explained who we are, Adele replied, looking visibly annoyed now.
We are just survivors, he replied, looking for a home. We were attacked by the Navy back on our Island; we lost a lot of good people, family and friends. We killed a lot of their men trying to protect ourselves and what was ours, there are only ten of us now. We just need to find somewhere safe; we have children in our group and need to find them a new home away from where the Navy can get to us.
So have the Navy followed you here? Adele replied. Are the Navy here now, where is the rest of your group. You were found alone at the boat yard. Who do you know here? You say you’ve been here before. Tell me now before I decide your fate.
I don’t know if they followed us, he replied, they lost a lot of men like I said, they have other ships and men and we’ve been captured by them before but escaped.
You escaped from the Navy, Adele replied. She was clearly surprised and interested in what David had to say now. You may be of use to us after all, but where are the rest of your group now?
We had another boat, David replied. They were told to head down the coast towards Blyth if I didn’t return or if they hadn’t heard from me by last night. As you guys took my boat and radio, I have not been in touch with them, so they are no doubt on their way to Blyth as we speak. Two others came to shore with me to gather supplies in Amble and again I haven’t seen or heard from them both because you guys captured me and have my radio. Ask the men who have it if anyone has been in touch.
Phil shook his head, nothing since yesterday, they were trying to contact him, but its gone silent since, there’s a lot of dead where they were headed for, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were one of them as well now.
Well I’ve decided, Adele said, you can live for now, you’ll stay in the tower with our men but locked up until you’ve told Diane here everything we need to know about the Navy. If we think your information is of use to us then we’ll allow you to work with the men and serve the sisterhood as punishment for your crimes. We’ll take your boat for the use of the sisterhood too.
She indicated to Diane to take him inside, I want to know everything he knows about the Navy, where he’s been and where those other two are. Get his radio back to him and let him contact them, if they answer we may be able to get them to tell him where they are. You lot, she said, looking at the men, get out there and find them now!
Chapter Forty
David was led inside one of the houses by Diane. David had done well, he hadn’t given away the rest of the group and with the men being sympathetic towards us, and I didn’t think they would be volunteering any information themselves.
The rest of the women that had rode in with Adele chatted a while before entering the same house David and Diane had.
David was alive and well and that was more than we could have hoped for and with a bit of luck he’d be with the men at the tower in the evening. Amy and I reckoned this would be the best chance we had to get him out and away from here. We needed to grab him while the men that had turned up with Adele were escorting him to the tower. We couldn’t let the guys from the cresent be blamed for his escape, and we just hoped Adele wouldn’t get them to escort him. To where we were taking him, we had no idea, no plan, we just needed David back and we’d go from there.
We stayed on the roof, under the tarp for a while, sipping our bramble whiskey and eating pickled mackerel, which actually tastes a lot better than it sounds. We must have dozed off at some point, because I woke up to the patter of rain on the tarp. I looked at my watch, shit; we’d been sleeping for a good couple of hours. The cresent was deserted, but the horses thankfully were still in their enclosure.
We now had no idea whether David was still inside the house or had already been taken to the tower. We were trying to decide what to do, go to the tower or stay and watch, shit, why had we fallen asleep. It had been a tough couple of days, but we were here to get a friend back, we should have made sure one of us was awake.
Chapter Forty One
We decided to make a move and check out the water tower, but as we were getting up to move, CRASH!
FUCK! I was falling, the fucking roof had caved in, and no doubt rotten with years of neglect and us two lying on it in the rain for hours hadn’t helped.
We crashed onto the dance floor below; the roof was underneath us, the tarp still on top of us. It wasn’t long before they were on us. There was no time to think, I fired the shot gun, trying to aim in the direction of the ones climbing on top of me, and the rifle was useless to Amy now. She had her knife out and was striking at the tarp aimlessly trying to hit them in the head. I fired again which gave us a bit of space to move. Amy shrugged the tarp of us. FUCK! We were well and truly screwed!
The bar, I shouted, the bar, the shutters still up. Run for it! I swung at one with the boat hook, CRUNCH, straight through its rotten skull, Amy was taking them out with her knife, and she knew the soft spot was through the eye socket and straight into the brain. She managed to make herself enough room to fire off a rifle shot. A line of rotters fell to the ground in front of us due to the impact of the shot at such short range; Amy did well to stay on her feet. They were still moving as they hadn’t been head shots, but they were down for now. We raced through the space Amy had created and dived over the bar. I grabbed the shutter and pulled it down behind us. A couple of them managed to get their hands under it before it was fully down. Hold it down I shouted at Amy as I reloaded another two cartridges into the shot gun. BANG, BANG, I blew their hands off and the shutter was down and locked in place. I’d never been so happy to see that shutter go down in my life! Last orders for you fuckers I shouted as if they would understand me!
Chapter Forty Two
We lay down behind the bar out of sight and they soon started to lose interest and began aimlessly wandering around again. The bar was still fully stocked with the usual bar snacks and soft and alcoholic beverages. I think we’ll give the alcohol a miss Amy whispered, I think it must have been old Billy’s potion that sent us to sleep up there. I nodded in agreement. We filled our bags and pockets with what food would fit, which is really difficult to do quietly with the nature of the packaging, it reminded me of sitting in the cinema trying not to make a noise with your sweets! We took what we could as we couldn’t let an opportunity like this go.
I guess they’ll have heard that racket in the cresent I whispered to Amy. She agreed. Yes but hopefully they won’t work out where it came from, there’s not much of a view from where they are and they were all inside anyway. Maybe we should lay low for a while, let them search, I cannot see them coming in here, they’ve avoided it up to now and from the outside it’s going to look exactly the same as it always does to them.
But what about David, we just found him, I don’t want to lose him again already.
We aren’t going to be any good to him dead, Amy replied, best lie low a while, maybe we’ll have drawn them out, it might actually work out in our favour in the long run, they probably don’t suspect we’re this close to them.
Chapter Forty Three
We waited almost an hour, stuffing our faces with crisps and pork scratching, before deciding it was time to make a move. There hadn’t been any noise or movement in the clu
b other than from the rotters wandering around the concert room.
There is a small door to the left of the bar which leads to the staircase and then down to the main doors with the lounge to the left and the bar to the right. Upstairs, once on the landing area there is a door leading to the committee room, two doors for the toilets, the door to the bar, which we are on the other side of, and the door to the concert room. I seemed to remember Derek telling me that access to the attic and roof was through a hatch in the rear of the committee room.
The bar door was unlocked, but unfortunately there is no window in it, so we had no way of seeing if there was anything on the other side. It couldn’t be any worse than the concert room I told Amy, it’s only a small space and I’m yet to see rotters walking up stairs. We’ll be able to handle anything there, but we need to continue doing things quietly.
We eased the door open a little, sure enough there was at least one. On three I said, ONE, TWO, THREE, we flung the door open, there was a few of them. CRUNCH, I got one in the eye, Amy took two out with her knife, I couldn’t get the hook out of mines eye, maybe a hook was not the best choice of weapon for quick retrieval, after all the whole point of a hook was to hook and capture something. I kicked the one coming towards me squarely in the chest, my foot partially disappeared into it as it was so rotten, but I did enough to send it tumbling down the stairs.
The committee room was locked so I grabbed the large metal catering unit that was used to heat food for functions. I used it to smash our way into the committee room.
Once in we quickly located the hatch in the ceiling. We pulled a desk under it and then climbed on top of it. It gave us just enough height to open the hatch and from there we were able to clamber up into the attack space above. Once in the attic we could see the sunlight shining in through the gaps in the tiles in places. We ripped at the felt layer and pushed a few tiles out of the way. The attic was only a few feet high, so we were unable to stand up, but once we’d made a big enough hole in the roof we were able to easily climb up onto the roof. Once on the roof we slid down onto the flat roof above the concert room being careful not to go through the bloody thing again.
We had a quick look around, it was still raining and no one was to be seen in the cresent. The horses had gone, but we were fairly sure the sisterhood wouldn’t be too far away looking for us still. They weren’t stupid, they’d have put two and two together and realised it was us making all the noise. David had told them that there were two other people with him after all.
Chapter Forty Four
We were just about to lower the ladder, when, whoosh, something shot over our heads and almost immediately after the water tower exploded! What the fuck, Amy shouted! It must be a missile I said, it’s all it can be, the only guys I know with those bad lads is the bloody Navy and I’m fairly sure they have a canny range on them too. They’re probably sitting just outside the harbour in deeper water taking out targets.
Everyone had come rushing out of their houses in the cresent to try and see what was going on. Chris, I hoped David and the other men hadn’t been in the tower when it hit but were out looking for us.
Whoosh, the blockade just below us blew into pieces. This noise is going to attract every rotter for miles Amy shouted, we’ve got to get down from here now and help get those people out of there in case they strike again.
We clambered down the ladder and made our way through the burning wreckage and into the cresent. People were panicking, not knowing what to do or where to go, women and children mainly. Then the men arrived back and they had David with them still. It’s the Navy they cried, they’re firing at targets along the coast and it looks like they’re coming ashore at the harbour in Amble. We got here as quick as we could, the sisterhood are gathering down there preparing to fight back.
Whoosh, there was another explosion further away, somewhere near Hadston if I had to guess.
They’ve come to take out the sisterhood once and for all Phil cried. We’ve got to get out of here I said. They’ll take you and everything you have. Is there anywhere you can go until things die down a bit. You’ll be better off just leaving them to fight amongst themselves, it could be just what you’ve been waiting for, a chance to escape with your families.
We could head inland Phil said, we’ve heard of a group living in the forests around Rothbury, they’ve set up their own community there. We’ve run into a few of them over the years when they’ve been out hunting or come down river to do a bit of fishing. They always seemed friendly enough, I’m not sure if they’ll take us in, but it’s the best shot we’ve got I’d say.
Well we’ll be heading back into Amble, we’ve got to get back to Coquet Island and get our people away from here. We may lay low for a while and then maybe make our way up river and come looking for you guys. We’ve got room for a couple more if anyone wants to join us.
Whoosh, another explosion, again near Hadston, we could also see and hear explosions coming from the Amble area. Christ, I hoped they hadn’t blown up the old boat yard. The Hope was as it says, our only hope of getting back to Coquet now.
Some of the women and children had joined us now, families were finally being reunited. If anyone wants to join us then tell us now Amy said, because we aren’t hanging around here any longer.
Derek and Linda said that they wanted to stay with their group. I could understand that, it’s exactly the same decision we’d made previously. When we get back to Coquet we’ll discuss things with the rest of our group, maybe we can join up again and head into Rothbury together. Keep your radios on, we’ll be in touch.
Chapter Forty Five
The explosions continued to be heard and seen coming from Amble and along the coast. We were just saying our goodbyes when Adele, Diane and three other women came riding towards the cresent.
Fuck this Phil shouted, those bitches are going down. Everyone take cover now! Amy shouted, hopefully they’ll think we’re all dead or gone, come on quick, we’ll ambush them.
Sure enough they rode straight into the cresent. David and the other guys took no prisoners. They blasted all five of them in the back as they rode past our positions. Amy and David managed to grab a couple of horses, but the rest, spooked, just fled the cresent.
I strolled casually up to the five women lying on the ground and one by one hooked them through the eye socket and into the brain using my boat hook. I had to use my foot as leverage to get the bloody thing out each time. I really did need to find a better weapon.
Those guys weren’t running away for no reason David said, if I were you lot I’d grab what you need and get yourselves out of here now. Come on we’re off now he said.
With that he got on the horse he was holding, Amy did the same and told me to get on the back. I’d never been anywhere near a bloody horse in all my life, so to say I struggled was an understatement, but anyway, once up and loaded up with weapons and bags, we were off.
Chapter Forty Six
We headed back towards Amble, taking the bridleway to Walkworth and then following the river to the boat yard so as to avoid Amble itself. We could see the harbour and pier burning as we approached the yard. Rotters were burning and falling into the water below the pier, at least I assumed they were rotters.
The Hope was still moored in the middle of the river, so we got off the horses and sent them on their way. It wasn’t hard finding a small skiff in the yard that we were able to row over to the Hope. The fuel David had collected was still on board, no doubt ready for the sisterhood to use when they required our boat, but not anymore.
David soon had us underway and heading out towards the North Sea. The Harbour and Pier were almost completely destroyed by the fire and missiles, and the whole of Amble appeared to be burning. I had never seen so many rotters as we passed by the burning harbour. It must have been the noise or the heat that was attracting them. The Navy clearly hadn’t intended to land in Amble, as they had destroyed anywhere that they possibly could other than the small jetty at
the boat yard which they wouldn’t have known about unless they had people with local knowledge with them. So what were Adele and Diane running from? Maybe it was just from the fires and explosions, at least the guys back at Togston would have a bit of breathing time if the Navy weren’t heading in land there.
As we headed further out to sea we could see that Amble was in ruins, a burning pile of rubble and we could see other fires burning all along the coast. It looked like someone had seriously pissed the Navy off or there was something else happening that we didn’t know about. I guessed it wasn’t all for us, maybe the sisterhood, who knew at this point.
Chapter Forty Seven
We were soon back at Coquet Island without a Navy ship or sub in sight. The Gamebird was still where we’d left it, clearly we hadn’t been the intended target. Maybe the Navy was so disjointed these days that this lot hadn’t known about the attack on May or just thought that the lighthouse was still abandoned, certainly not worth using a missile on. Who knew, all I cared about was that fact that Emily and our group were still there. They had seen us coming this time and were soon down on the small beach to greet us.
Emily ran and jumped into my arms. Don’t leave us again Daddy she said. My heart sank, we had to find somewhere safe to stay soon. Maybe joining the group from the cresent would be a good idea. It was something we had to talk about later.
David and Margret were on the beach hugging, I could see that those two guys were growing close. I caught her eye and she mouthed the words thank you to me. I smiled and winked and then headed inside the light house with Emily. Amy and her family followed closely behind.
Maddison filled us in on what they had seen. Apparently a Navy ship had stopped a few miles away from them and a small number of accompanying smaller vessels had made their way to Amble harbour, whilst others had headed off in other directions, but they couldn’t see where they’d gone too. The vessels that had headed into Amble had been fired upon when they’d approached the harbour and had been outnumbered, almost as if their arrival had been expected. They had returned to the main ship after having taken heavy casualties. The other smaller vessels had started to return too and it wasn’t long after that the ship had started firing missiles at multiple targets. The harbour and pier had been obliterated. Then as suddenly as they’d arrived, they moved off again, following the coastline further North.
