Safe Haven, page 6
The generators chugged away, providing electricity for the so called celebration. Coloured lights and music did nothing to disguise the defeated air that surrounded The Don. He raised another glass to the people at the table, they all raised one back and feigned good humour, but even a child could see there was none.
"How about you and me go back home and have a little celebration of our own," Juliet said, moving Fry's hand up her thigh and underneath her short white skirt.
He loved the feel of her skin underneath his hand and looked towards her longingly in the dancing coloured lights. "Come here," he commanded.
Juliet dropped her feet to the floor and swivelled round so Fry could hold her in his arms. She draped her long legs over the sofa and wrapped her arms around him. He stubbed out his cigar in a plant pot and cradled her head in his hand pulling her mouth towards him. The nicotine flavoured kiss lasted more than a minute and Fry's free hand roamed all over Juliet's supple body. When the kiss ended, their faces remained close. Although some found his thick Glaswegian accent hard to understand, Juliet did not. She hung on his every word as though he was casting a spell.
"There is nothing I would like more than to take you home and have some fun sweetheart," he said smiling. Juliet's face lit up excitedly, her broad grin making Fry smile himself. "But, tonight's the night."
The smile left his face. His eyes, which a second before had been filled with carnal mischief, were now stone cold...icy. Juliet's grin widened further.
He bent down and his hot breath whispered into her ear, "Tonight you'll go to bed a princess and awake a queen."
***
Mike and Lucy held each other tightly. The night before they had been in their own room in a comfortable bed. Now they were stretched out on a fire blanket high up on some metal shelving. This was the norm for life in the Home and Garden Depot since the rat attacks had begun. The legs to the huge steel shelving units had been greased making it virtually impossible for the rodents to climb. That did not stop them from trying.
Mike, Lucy and Jules sat with their legs dangling over the edge of the shelf. The fading summer light still provided enough illumination for them to see what was going on. The day had been spent working in earnest. Jules’ organisational skills and forward thinking had impressed Mike, Lucy, and Emma. She had taken good care of her people, given the limitations she faced, and they were more than willing to obey her commands.
The Home and Garden Depot was the biggest of its kind in the Northern Highlands, it supplied to the trade as well as private customers. It had a small fleet of delivery vehicles, six transit vans and twelve bigger box vans. Displaying a level of paranoia that immediately ingratiated her to Mike's heart, Jules had insisted that the vehicles were parked in the loading bay of the toy superstore next door, giving the illusion that their own premises was completely devoid of life should a casual observer pass by.
The thirteen vehicles had little fuel to begin with, but after a few daring "smash and grab" raids around town to find provisions over the past few weeks, they were all just running on fumes. All but one of the vehicles were now parked in the Home and Garden Depot's loading bay again, and three of them had been loaded up with all but a smattering of the group's food and water supplies as well as vital tools, seeds and materials that could help rebuild and sustain life back on the stretch of coast that was soon to be home for all of them. They had kept one vehicle in the neighbouring parking lot just in case.
While Jules, Lucy, Emma, and Sarah had been co-ordinating the logistics of this operation, Mike and Beth had been demonstrating how to make crude spears out of broom and mop handles. They had dismantled garden shears and shown people how the remaining long handled blades could be used to deadly effect against an assailant, living or otherwise. They explained how a strike to the brain of a RAM was the only sure way to bring one down, and the creature's bodily fluids were as deadly as their bites. The frightened faces of the men, women, and children slowly grew with confidence as the pair spoke with a calm expertise.
In the afternoon when they had broken for dinner, Mike had gone to check on the loading operations, and Beth had taken it upon herself to tell stories to Jules's people about the daring feats they had undertaken to reach Scotland. When Mike had returned, the confidence level had grown even more. By the end of the day, the vehicles had been loaded and the rag-tag army was fully armed and had undergone their first induction.
Jules winced as she took a drink of vodka and passed the bottle to Mike. "I can't thank you enough for letting Andy have one of those rifles. He'd have never fuckin’ shut up about it otherwise," she said, her Belfast accent becoming thicker the more she drank.
"It doesn't matter to us, Sweetie. The four of us who can shoot are all armed, so we had a rifle going spare," Lucy replied, taking the bottle from Mike.
"Don't get me wrong," continued Jules almost as if Lucy hadn't spoken, "I love my brother. I love all three of them, but sometimes it's like I'm looking after fuckin’ children." She paused waiting for the bottle to be passed back down to her. She took another hefty swig. "It's been like looking after a fuckin’ warehouse full of children." She put the bottle down beside her and leant forward to look at Mike then at Lucy. "When your lorry first showed up today, I thought——raiders, this is it, it's all over now... And it's a fuckin’ terrible thing to say, and may Jesus forgive me, but there was a big part of me that felt relief...relief that I didn't have to be responsible any more. These people made me their leader, but I'm just a fuckin’ retail manager. I used to go out with the girls on a Friday night and get pissed, most of the time I'd be working the next day, and I had to do it with the mother of all hangovers…but I had no aspirations beyond that. I didn't want too much responsibility, I wasn't that ambitious." She paused again, picked up the bottle and took a drink. "You coming here today...you saved me...you saved all of us."
"We haven't done anything yet, sweetie. You can thank us when we're back in Lonbaig."
"Yeah, well, I see it differently. So what you have done or you haven't done, I thank you anyway," she said holding the vodka bottle up and taking a final drink in salute to them both. "And now, I'd better get down before I start seeing two of everything," she said smiling. She took tight hold of the rope which had been attached to the strong metal frame of the shelving unit. Jules looked around the small area that had been cordoned off with sheets of cardboard to give the occupants privacy.
"It's funny, I used to complain to my landlord all the time that the walls in my flat were like fuckin’ cardboard. I suppose I didn't know when I had things good did I?" With that, she shuffled off the edge of the shelf and shimmied down the rope to the floor, greeting the tenants of the lower shelves as she went.
Mike and Lucy leant over the edge watching her as she went down. Even though she was clearly tipsy, she still had the presence of mind to get on her tiptoes and place the rope carefully onto the tall first shelf just in case they were visited by rats in the night.
***
Stifled sobs and moans could be heard from all over the large warehouse as the women from Lonbaig and the rest of the coastline finally had time to come to terms with what had happened to them and their families. They had been kept busy all day making ready for their escape, but as darkness and quiet crept over the large echoing building so did the realisation of what they were escaping back to.
Mike and Lucy laid still, listening to the sadness spread like a cold. Eventually, Mike turned onto his side. "You did good today," he whispered into Lucy's ear.
She turned onto her side and draped her leg over him, leaning in so she could whisper without being overheard by the tenants of one of the neighbouring shelves. "I thought I'd lost you. I thought you felt I betrayed you."
He pulled her even closer to him. "If I'd tried to fight, I'd be dead now. You saved me. The more time we spend together, Lucy, the more I realise I need you. I have so many demons floating around in my head, but when I'm with you, they're all kept at bay."
Lucy moved her lips up to his and they shared a long and passionate kiss. When they pulled away, they smiled at each other in the dim candlelight.
"The thing is though, when we get back home, I'm going to need some of those demons to help make that coastline into a fortress,” said Mike. “I've had my little holiday from reality now. Despite the nightmare that has gone on around us, the last few weeks with you have been incredible. I was excited to wake up every morning to learn what the new day would bring. But to make sure that I can feel that again, I need to know that I can give you safety, that I can offer everyone safety..."
"That's not just on you Mike," she whispered.
"I realise that, I know it's not just my responsibility, but it's something I feel I need to take charge of. You and Emma are born leaders, you have the intelligence and respect to get people to do what needs to be done. But to deal with these raiders…as much as intelligence, we need primal brutality and a complete lack of compassion. And whether I like to acknowledge it or not, when they need to be, those are real strong suits of mine."
"That's not true, Mike, you're a good man, don't put yourself down like that."
"I'm not. I can't change the DNA I inherited from my dad, any more than you can change yours. The thing is, though, I can put it to good use for us, for all of us." He leaned across and kissed her again.
"What do you make of these people?" Lucy asked, gesturing into the darkness, past the edge of the metal shelf they were lying on.
"They seem decent, they seem scared, just like the villagers in Candleton and Lonbaig."
"It won't be the same when we go back. Something's been taken from them. Something's been taken from all of us."
"Then we'll build something new. We can't bring back the people who've died, but we can make sure that it doesn't happen again."
The pair returned to their backs, staring at the candle's flickering reflection on the shelf above them. They let the sad sounds envelope them for the moment, then Mike reached out to take Lucy's hand. The guilty comfort it gave them both relaxed them enough for them to close their eyes. It was unlikely they would get any sleep on this night, but at least they could rest, together.
Emma and Sarah had taken a top shelf on the racking, giving them full view of the warehouse if they chose to lean over and take it. The sounds rose from the tortured depths below, but their own voices remained secret to the rest of the occupants of the building.
"I hope the kids are okay," Sarah said.
"You don't need to worry about them. Dora's there, and as much as they drive me mad, Ruth, Richard and David are responsible people, they'll be able to deal with anything that happens." Emma looked out into the darkness, hoping her words were true. She rubbed her hands over her face, and then sensed something that made her turn on her side and look at her companion. Emma saw tears in Sarah's eyes.
"I'm really not cut out for this."
Emma edged closer to her, making the heavy metal racking creak a little with the movement. "Sarah, seriously, don't talk like that."
"It's true. I wanted to be brave. I wanted to help, because I knew that's what you'd do, but, I was just in awe of you. I felt like a frightened child as I watched you and Lucy," she admitted, finally wiping a tear streak from the side of her face.
Emma moved closer still, and Sarah turned her head to look in her direction. "Listen to me. When we set off from Leeds, there wasn't a second that went by where I didn't feel like peeing myself because I was so scared. Mike on the other hand, he was just unbelievable, right from the outset, because he knew that if he didn't step up, we were all finished. The more I saw him do, the more I wanted to get involved, but the fear inside me kept pulling me back." She paused, searching Sarah's eyes for understanding. "Then, when those soldiers knocked Mike out, that was it. It was down to me or we were all dead. I had to swallow all my fear and my doubts, roll my sleeves up and get on with it. And when I did, I found I was capable of a lot more than I thought I was." She paused again. "I see a lot of me in you, Sarah. When you beat your fear down, you'll be able to take on the world," she smiled, and Sarah smiled back. "Now try to get some sleep, it's going to be a long day tomorrow."
***
As the night wore on, the numbers in the dining room slowly dwindled. Lorelei had wandered off with another young man who she would use until she got bored of him. All of the Don's friends had staggered off to find their respective rooms in the luxury hotel, where they would slumber in comfort until morning. Juliet had bid Fry goodnight with a long passionate kiss. She had then been escorted home by Fry's most loyal soldier, TJ. That had been half an hour earlier. Now, only Fry, sat on the luxurious sofa, puffing another cigar and swirling cognac around the bottom of his glass. He went unnoticed by The Don as two young women, high on whatever the drug of choice was that evening, fawned over the ugly fat old man like he was some young Hollywood icon. The music still carried on, and it was that in conjunction with The Don's own intoxication that allowed Fry to remain unnoticed.
Fry took a sip of his cognac as his eyes slowly narrowed. His thoughts went back to the time that he had first approached The Don. He had offered to lose evidence in a case that would have put the gangster away for years. That had been the beginning of a lucrative relationship for Fry. They had even formed an uneasy friendship in all those years. But now, The Don had become a liability.
Raucous laughter erupted from the table as one of the women disappeared underneath it, while a second pulled her top off and began to jiggle her naked breasts in front of The Don. At the other end of the large dining room, a door opened and TJ and four other men quietly entered unbeknownst to the three revelling figures at the table. TJ looked towards Fry and nodded deliberately and slowly as if it was some kind of pre-arranged signal.
Fry's ginger and grey whiskers parted as his lips broke into a wide grin, displaying a mouthful of yellow teeth. He gulped the remaining cognac from his fragile glass and carefully placed it down on the table beside him. He edged forward on his seat and took an exaggerated suck on his cigar which he exhaled releasing an explosion of blue smoke into the already heavy air in the room. Extinguishing the remaining stub, he stood.
As Fry paced across to the table, the young woman re-emerged from underneath it, wiping her mouth and laughing hysterically. The Don's own guffaws nearly drowned out the music. The Don was so preoccupied by the dancing breasts of his companion that it took him several seconds to break his eyes away from their hypnotic movement and realise that someone was standing by his side.
"Alright Fry," said The Don, still smiling widely. "Are you calling it a night?"
"No," he replied smiling warmly, "but you are."
A confused look swept across The Don's face for a second. It transformed into a contorted snapshot of fear as Fry tightly grasped a handful of the older man's pathetic comb-over and with his other hand took the long bladed hunting knife that TJ had handed him. Fry angled The Don's face towards him and sawed into the sagging flesh of the fat man's neck with the serrated edge. The women immediately began to scream and started running away only to be stopped by TJ and the other men. The Don's pained cry became a loud gurgle as the knife tore through the bloody sinew. Arterial spray covered Fry’ face, running down his beard, turning the ginger to a glistening dark red. Fry's eyes danced with a youthful excitement as the moment he had fantasised about a thousand times before had finally arrived. He felt a pang of sadness as The Don stopped struggling, and his eyes closed for the last time. His sadness wasn't for the passing of a long-time associate, but for the fact that he couldn't kill him again. He only had one chance to enjoy the sensation of seeing life bleed out of The Don, how he wished he could bottle that feeling and drink it at will.
It took him the best part of a minute to separate The Don's head from his neck. By the time Fry was finished, perspiration had begun to dilute the warm red blood that painted his face. He pulled the head away from the body with an aggressive yank and held it high. It hung almost comically, suspended by nothing but the few hairs of the old man's comb over. Blood continued to drain from it, occasionally landing on Fry, but he was not repelled. It did not disgust him to shower in the blood of a man he once called his friend.
TJ looked on, smirking at Fry's obvious enjoyment, but the other men looked uneasy. It was one thing to be happy to go along with killing The Don, but none of them expected the execution to be so graphic, so barbaric.
The music still pounded away through the speakers, but the party was now officially over. He looked across at TJ, "That's enough music for tonight, don't you think?"
The room became silent apart from the terrified sobbing from The Don's two female companions. Fry looked around at the assembled men. "Unless any of you want those two, send them to the Whore Pit," he commanded in a menacing shout. There had been a brothel for the men in New Sodburgh which had been nicknamed the Whore Pit. When Fry had moved north of the border to take command of the new outpost, the idea and the term had followed with him. In this new world, Fry and those like him saw most women as nothing more than currency. Most women. There were the odd few who were something more, like his new queen, Juliet.
"What's next boss?" TJ asked, as soon as the room fell silent.
"We're not going to get much sleep tonight." He held the head up in front of him like he was looking at a goldfish in a bag won from a travelling fair. “Because of this piece of shit, we lost two strongholds and fuck knows how many men. Unless things start getting better, the men are going to be deserting in their droves. You and me, we're going to turn the tide TJ, starting right now." He searched his friend's eyes for understanding and loyalty. Happy that he did indeed see both, he then looked back to the dangling head. "First thing's first, though. I have to go give Lorelei the terrible news about her daddy." Fry's mouth curled into a devilish smile. The blood dripped from his whiskers, over his lips and onto his teeth. TJ looked on, giving nothing away, but feeling a sudden shudder down his spine.
