It was a while before June spoke, the night air and the woods somehow having a sobering effect, but the temptation was not there, not this time, June wondered if it ever would be.
‘Not tonight then sis’ she said with a sadness in her voice,
Sue smiled as they linked arms,
‘Be a shame to waste that wine in the fridge’
‘Maybe when all the wine’s gone then’
‘Or the cigarettes’
‘Yea, or the cigarettes’
They both laughed and turned to walk home, until June saw something out of the corner of her eye,
‘What’s that’ she shouted, panic rose in her voice,
Nathan and Samuel had sneaked out of No.13 Hawthorne, and for a moment for both boy’s it was like an adventure, something forbidden that they shouldn’t be doing, Samuel thought he had never done anything like this, it was exciting, in some ways to him doing something he shouldn’t be doing was like a payback for all the bad things that had happened, they weren’t really going to go into the woods, it was just pretending, just a game, they wouldn’t really do it, it was just an adventure they were playing out.
They stood about ten metres from the edge of the trees. both staring into them, adrenalin, fear and excitement building up in their body’s, they could see the trees silhouetted against the moonlit sky, they could see and hear them move, shadows swaying against the sky, but they were looking into darkness, for Samuel he was looking into the unknown for he had never been inside a wood before, they took one further step forward,
‘Do you think there’s anything in there’ asked Nathan,
Samuel took another step, Nathan followed, it felt like they were going to find out tonight,
‘They say there is, no one’s ever come out alive’ said Samuel as he inched forward, the tension knotting his stomach, fear and adrenalin engulfing him.
Nathan thought about that, ‘maybe they didn’t die, maybe they just walked out the other side,’
That seemed a good possibility to Samuel,
‘yea maybe and if we did I could come back for my mum and sister,’ the idea was appealing to him, it was all so easy, they had been told not to go into the woods to frighten them, there was nothing in there really, just the road to freedom, was there?, they were stood a metre from the edge now, infringing on the forbidden area.
‘I can’t see anything’ said Nathan,
‘It’s too dark’ said Samuel,
They took another step forward, that’s when they heard the voice, it startled them both as they jumped.
‘You two boy’s get the fuck from there’ June Murphy shouted, she let go of Sue’s arms, she was the fitter of the two sisters and she trotted to where the boys stood, just inside the woods,
The boys froze at the sound and the sight of June Murphy coming towards them, they thought for one minute it might have been one of the three bosses, June was close to them now, she clipped both boys across the ear’ panting through her excursions,
‘Don’t you know you’re not supposed to go in there?’
Both boy’s rubbed their ears, started to stutter an apology and was just about to apologise when June went to grab at the boys to pull them back away from the woods edge, when she slipped and fell just into the woods, the effects of the alcohol not completely gone as her shoes got stuck in the mud.
It had been watching the two boy’s in the quiet of the night, silent and ready to pounce, they had been so close to coming into the woods, coming into its domain, where those who dare would never return, the creature knew another step and it would pounce, but something had stopped them coming, and that particular meal was gone, it dare not venture outside of the woods, so it had turned away to return to its lair, there will be other opportunities, but then it had heard a noise, and as the wild animal looked around, it could see another meal had fallen into the woods, into its lair, not as tasty looking as the two boys, but fresh nevertheless, it could taste the blood, the flesh, feel the crunching of the bones.
June froze as she lay belly down in the mud, her face staring at the thing before her eyes, the monster that was just about to take her, tonight had been the night for her after all, if she could have moved she wouldn’t have been able to as she was frozen in fear, it was no animal she could describe as she looked into its eyes and saw the teeth pouncing towards her, she closed her eyes. Ready to die.
Then it felt as if she had been grabbed by both feet and was being dragged along the ground, for one moment she thought the monster had come for her from behind and it was dragging her deeper into the woods, and as she opened her eyes, expecting her life to flash before her, she could not see the monster no more, she could see the moon, and stood beside her was Sue her sister, fear etched on her face, stood beside her was Nathan and Samuel who had grabbed her feet and pulled her out, the both boys could see she was okay and run off home, swearing never to go into the woods again.
June staggered to her feet, she was shaking, Sue helped her as much as she could but her feeble body was not much help, eventually with both girls covered in mud they linked arms and walked towards home, June’s eyes were still wide, her body still shook.
‘Hope you got more than one fucking bottle’ she said.
Chapter 10
1946
The war had been over for just a few months, the euphoria still running around Britain, but since June 1944 the camp had remained open and in use, a re-education of it’s prisoners before returning to the new Defeated Germany, for some it would take another three years before that process was over, for those at the Underwood prison of war camp, it would take less than a year, unfortunately some never returned home at all.
The terms of the Geneva Convention stipulated that prisoner’s should not be subjected to work whilst in captivity, however given the choice many German prisoners chose to work rather than sit around the camps doing nothing, those that chose to work in Underwood, worked the many fields, either harvesting, digging ditches or repairing fences, the fenced off area was vast and allowed for produce to be grown.
There were also other activities in the Underwood camp, such as lectures, concerts, English lessons and football during the imprisonment, life was not easy by any means, they were prisoners of war and were treated as such, after the war the Germans were assessed as to their loyalty to the Nazi ideals, and those that still remained loyal to those ideals were kept in captivity.
In April 1946, 7 German prisoners of war remained at the camp which had become popular as a training resort for the British soldiers due to the immense amount of fields and woods that surrounded the camp, the camp remained intact, with the prisoners barracks, the officers’ quarters, activity rooms, toilets and the large water tower, all surrounded by chain linked, barbed fencing.
The fencing was patrolled by 4 soldiers, in 20 foot high towers, one either side, 3 soldiers looking into the woods, and one looking into the vast fields ahead, where one day Underwood estate, and the world’s biggest Steelworks would be built, the mood was calm, the war had been over for 4 months and still everyday seemed like a new day, and not one day of the last five years forgotten, today had been spent moving the fencing which had been ferried away into an army truck.
Captain Allan Herapath, sat in his office quarters, a proud soldier, he had served the army for 27 years, more than half his life, he had seen action during the war whilst leading his regiment, now he was overseeing the final acts of the Underwood prison of war camp, Sargent Philip Lenan sat with him, he had fought alongside the captain and there was a great mutual respect between the two soldiers, they were sat with the camp parson Andy Thomas, who had been at the camp for two years, they were discussing the final removal of the seven German soldiers that had remained at the camp, they were to be sent to a camp in the Scottish highlands in the morning for further re-education, along with other German prisoners of war from various parts of the country, they hadn’t quite got the German ideals out of their head, Allan wondered if they ever
would.
Allan sat with what he called a celebratory whisky in his hand.
‘In some way I will kind of miss it’ he told his companions, he was referring to the camp that had become his home.
‘How do you make that out sir?’ said Philip Lenan who just couldn’t wait to get from there and continue his career,
‘It’s Allan today Philip, call me Allan, he pondered for a moment, ‘not all Germans brought to this camp Phillip were idealist, most were just caught up in a bloody war, anyway, it’s time to rejoice, it’s been a tough war nevertheless,’
Phillip took a drop of his whisky, ‘what do you think will become of this place’
Allan thought for a moment, besides the camp there was just fields and tree’s, no roads to speak of, just the odd dirt track created by the heavy army vehicles, ‘I expect this fine land will carry on being farmed, I’m sure the farmers around here could use some of these buildings, they will probably be glad to get their land back,’
‘That they could’ said the vicar Andy Thomas who was on his third whisky, Allan grabbed the bottle putting it out of Andy’s reach, there was nothing worse than a drunken man of god, and Andy had been drunk to often for his liking.
Allan lit up a cigar and offered them around, soon the office was filled with a hazy mist as they puffed away’
‘What will you do Sergeant Lenan’ asked Allan,
‘Philip Lenan answered passionately ‘I will remain in the army sir, it’s all I know’
‘And I will carry on preaching’ said the half cut Vicar, and both Philip and Allan wondered when was the last time he had preached.
They all sat in silence as the three men reminisced about the camp and what it meant to them, sipping their whisky and smoking the thick cigar, all three were glad to leave what it stood for, but no one would ever fail to remember it, the silence was only broken by the screams coming from outside, all three shot up immediately, the screams were like nothing they had ever heard, the two soldiers grabbing their arms as they heard shots being fired from outside, sprinted out of the door, followed by the vicar, what they saw was utter carnage as the three men recoiled in horror.
Two German prisoners were running out of their quarters, one had half his face bitten off, the other was carrying most of his stomach in his hands before collapsing in a heap on the ground,
Three British soldiers stood shooting into the hut with their rifles, the 4th lay just beyond them, body parts torn off and missing,
‘It’s a fucking Wolfe’ shouted one soldier as he pumped his rifle into the German quarters,
‘Hold your fire’ shouted Allan but as he said it he could not believe his eyes as the Wolfe pounced from the barracks and attacked his 3 troops, even as they pumped bullets into him, the wolf had all three on the ground, one soldiers throat was torn out, the other soldier was missing his eye socket, the 3rd soldier barely alive when Philip Lenan and Allan Herapath, finally brought it to the ground with their rifles, the Vicar stood and wet himself and took a swig out of the whisky he had grabbed when the others were grabbing their arms, ‘In the name of the good lord’ he gargled, as he took another swig.
The quarters were the worse, what death come upon them couldn’t have been quick, limbs had been torn off, body’s eaten away as the five German prisoners lay dead, the whole place covered in veins, gore and guts, their two comrades lay dead outside, along with 3 British soldiers and another who would last only a further 2 minutes, it was worse than anything they had seen during the war.
‘What the fuck’ said Philip as he prodded the dying animal with his rifle, careful not to get to close, the vicar had staggered over to them ‘the curse of the Devil so it is’
‘What kind of animal is it, this is Britain for heaven’s sake’ said Allan, he could see the creature was breathing still. Despite the many bullet holes in him,
‘It’s the Devils animal so it is’
‘Shut the fuck up’ Allan shouted and Andy the Vicar took another swig and dropped to his knees,
‘Were all going to die’ he said and then passed out on the floor’
‘How do we explain this sir?’ asked Philip as he looked at the carnage surrounding him.
‘Allan scratched his nose’ he put a bullet into the head of the animal, Allan Herapath, Philip Lenan and Andy Thomas the last persons the creature saw, the meals he didn’t get the day they took the fence down, he will remember them.
‘Think we need to think about this one’. Said the captain.
The German soldiers were buried, the hut that they died in was burnt to the ground, no prayers were said, no one able to find the right words, The British Soldiers were awarded Military honours, after a report of a heroic fight against the somehow armed Germans who had tried to make their escape, the creature was buried where the soldiers and prisoners had been taken down, no one ever spoke of it again, but for the three men all in their fifties, they would never forget, their worse memory of that world war was when the war was over in 1946.
By 1972 all 3 had passed away, not one of them had mentioned that day again, but they lived through it many many times, until death had become a blessing.
Chapter 11
‘Surely someone’s committing crimes’ said Philip to Sandra Skellam as he rubbed his chin, he had called her in for an update as to what was occurring in the town, they were sitting in the Sheriffs house, sat in the front room that had been converted into an office, just a chair and desk and filing cabinets, there was nothing on the desk other than a pen and a blank sheet of paper, Philip was sat in the chair, Sandra stood beside him, he still seem to tower over her even as he sat.
‘No sir, the sheriff has it all in order’ her voice was shaky as she spoke, it always was whenever she spoke to the top three.
Philip took the pen in his hand and rolled it through his fingers, it looked like a child’s crayon in his hands, he turned and looked up at Sandra, he arched his head and met her eyes, he could see the girl was nervous, he liked that,
‘Or are you just not doing your job, you and that other deputy’ he bore no expression, he just stared at her with his head tilted,
Sandra gulped, she didn’t want to be here, she didn’t want to be deputy of Underwood, she had her answered prepared and polished, her shaky voice not quite delivering it the way she intended,
‘There is no need for crime sir, you have built such a fine place it’s virtually crime free’
She wished she hadn’t said the word virtually, she was praying the judge didn’t pick up on it, she stood there like a child in front of the headmaster, waiting to be disciplined, she felt stupid and hated herself for it.
‘Get out and do your work’ came the reply, his eyes reverted back to his desk,
Sandra turned to leave, she couldn’t get out of there quick enough as she rushed to the door.
‘Deputy’ the judge shouted, Sandra’s heart raced, she turned back round,
‘This isn’t a virtual world’ he told her,
‘Yes sir’ she replied and left the building.
Philip got up to go to the bathroom, he needed a shave.
Their jobs were just to patrol the streets of Underwood, to have a visual presence, both Sandra and Dylan hated their jobs, more so Sandra, and sadly as it was most people hated them, or at least disliked them, they were decent people, caught up in a mixed up place, decent honest people given a job that no one wanted, people hated them because of who they represented, truth was neither Sandra or Dylan had ever reported a crime, they couldn’t even recall seeing any crimes, but if they had done they would not have reported it, people hated them for what they stood for and who they represented.
Resignation wasn’t an option in Underwood, you done as you were told or faced the consequences, or even worse, the woods.
‘What did he want ‘asked Dylan who was waiting outside for Sandra, it was just after 8am, the day was fine and warming up with the morning sun,
‘He wants us to start arresting more peo
ple’ she replied cynically,
‘Arrest them? What for?’
They turned the corner into Waltwood,
‘Living I guess’
‘Do you fancy a breakfast at the Club’ Dylan asked,
Sandra did but she wanted to go and see someone first,
‘You go I’ll see you later’
Dylan walked towards the pub thinking of Craig’s finest bacon and eggs, Sandra walked in the opposite direction to Hawthorne.
With there being no school, there wasn’t many people about, the shops didn’t open until 10am during the holidays, the only people at work at that time were those attending the crops and the cannabis plants, it wasn’t a long walk to Hawthorne, but she took her time, thinking of what she was going to say, and she was soon stood outside No.12, she knocked the door.
Ivy had gone back home and Nathan had come back from Samuels and had gone straight back to bed, neither Peter or Eileen taking much notice as they assumed the boys had been up most of the night talking, what they didn’t know was Nathan didn’t get much sleep because he couldn’t stop thinking about what happened the night before, he hadn’t seen what was in the woods, however he certainly heard it and he knew the old lady they pulled out had seen it, they could tell by the look on their face, he hoped and prayed she would not tell his dad.
Lily had told her mum and dad about the conversation she had with Ivy and begged her father to help them, Peter promised he would do all that he can, at that time he felt it would be very little, his family was his priority, he didn’t want them to get to involved with other people, they were not his problem and he didn’t want them to become his problem, he felt that he had enough on his plate as it was, more than enough, he wasn’t aiming for a revolution, he just wanted to get his family to safety, he had told Eileen what Tony Griffiths had told him the night before, now he was hoping this fine weather would not continue, he was waiting for a storm, the bigger the better if their theory was going to work, they were sat at the kitchen table when they heard a knock at the front door, they looked at each other as if the other had the answer to whom it was.
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