Reapers Isle: TheParaplegic/Chronic Gamer Returns for the Second Book in his Reaper Series (14 page)

“Do we have any rope in the Land Rover?”

“I am sure we have some in there somewhere.”

“Hmm, vandalism always makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Hook up the rope to the posts and then to the tow bar and lets pull it down.” I said.

“Not a problem.” And he went to find the rope.

(I wasn’t lying about vandalism, making me all warm and fuzzy inside. I do like it!)

I waited while Rees tied the rope to the posts and then to the tow bar on the Land Rover. He gave me the thumbs up and then climbed into the Land Rover and started the engine.

Everyone came over to see what was happening and Becky said “What’s Rees doing with the sign?”

“Think about this. We are about to make the island our home, and as you can see on the sign the causeway is only there for just over an hour and a half twice a day. Now let’s say you’re a bunch of hillbillies and you want our food and stuff. This sign tells them when they can cross and get it. So if there is no sign, then they won’t know when to cross. We will have to set a lookout on the other side to watch the causeway when the tide changes. But by doing this we will be the only ones that know when that will be.” I said grinning.

There was a groaning in the earth and then the sign was ripped from the ground.

“Ok, so what do we do with the sign now that you have pulled it up?” Becky asked.

“Well, I don’t have the answer for everything. I was just wanting to cause some vandalism.” I said still grinning.

“Men!” was all she said and walked with Maddie off grumbling.

“Dude, you do know how to upset my woman.” Said Marc.

From where Maddie and Becky were standing we heard  “YOU’RE WOMAN, YOU’RE WOMAN, Marc get here now!” Becky nearly screamed.

Marc’s shoulders slumped and he dragged his feet as he walked over.

I started to laugh and then Maddie said “I don’t know what you’re laughing at you’re not getting any for a few days because of this, so you can wipe that smile off your face.”

I stopped laughing and Rees climbed out of the Land Rover and across to where I was standing and said “Ha Ha, Whipped!”

“Er…. Rees, please be aware that there is another woman here that can make your life just as bad.” Said Mary with a secret smile and walked over to stand with Becky and the others.

He looked at me puzzled and I just laughed even harder this time. It didn’t matter the look that Maddie cast me. I hadn’t felt this good in days.

“We have about half an hour before the tide changes and we can cross, let’s bury this sign, behind those bushes.” I said with my side hurting.

We grabbed the one spade we had and the sign and dragged it behind the bushes. I started to dig the hole for the sign and stopped when it was about two feet deep. Rees hauled the sign into the hole and we covered it over with the soil and sod. It didn’t look very good, but it was hidden behind the bushes. The weeds and grass should grow quickly to cover it.

Getting back to the road we could see the water, pulling away from the causeway. We all climbed into our cars and waited, the causeway was marked by posts stuck in the sand that we could see once the water pulled back. Driving slowly Rees headed across the causeway and toward Holy Island and the place we were hoping to call home. After five minutes we were pulling onto the island and followed the road around to the small village on the island. There were a few holiday cottages and cottages for people that lived here year round who helped to look after the castle. We came to the village and we could see by the blood on the road and a few broken doors. That the Reapers had been here as well. Moving through the village, we didn’t see any kind of movement or any sign that anyone was left alive here.

I pointed to the castle on the headland and headed toward it. The road went right up to a hard standing and there was a stepped path that leads up to the gate of the castle. Now for a castle you might think high walls with large turrets and all the stuff you saw as a kid in the movies. Well, there were high walls and the gateway did have turrets, but that was where the similarities ended. Inside the walls was what looked like a large stone building that was more fort looking than a castle.

I climbed out and walked up the path to the gate, it was slightly open. I reached down and pick the radio from my belt, key the button and said “Rees, Becky and Marc can you come up here the rest of you can you stay with the vehicles. Maddie make sure you have a shotgun and one of the rifles loaded.”

“Ok, Walker give us a few to get loaded up and we will be there.” Said Rees.

“Oh, and leave the radio with Maddie. Maddie if I tell you to leave, then you leave ok?”

“Ok, Jay, if that’s what you want.” Said Maddie and the radio clicked off.

(in women speak that means, fuck off I’ll do what I want when the time comes.)

Chapter Sixteen

I stood at the open gate, it was about ten, maybe twelve feet tall and solid oak with those big iron embossed nails in it. I couldn’t see the hinges or whatever it was hanging from, but what I could see was that when pushed closed, it would be recessed into the stone wall. With the stone wall stopping anyone from getting a finger or hand hold on any side of the door. Rees and the others came and stood next to me looking at the gate.

“Ok, well we are here, now we just have to clear this place and make sure we aren’t going to be surprised.” I said.

“What do you think? Myself and Marc and you and Becky?” said Rees.

I smiled “You sure you want to take Marc?”

“Ha fucking ha, you’re so funny Jay.” Said Marc.

“Actually, yes, I am sure I want to take Marc, he did some good shooting when he had the pistol, and not being funny, but most of what we’ll be doing is room clearing.” Said Rees putting a hand on Marc’s shoulder.

Marc looked dumbfounded.

I shrugged and looked at Becky, who was beaming, she was so proud of Marc.

“Ok then lets get our gear sorted. Rees if you and Marc take the right side as we go in and then clear upstairs. Becky and I will go in on the left and clear downstairs. We work front to back and then group up to do the dungeon or underground storage that this place is bound to have. Is that ok with everyone?”

They nodded and Rees passed Marc the extra pistol and I took mine out of its holster and gave it to Becky. Rees and I split the magazines evenly between them. Becky had her shotgun strapped across her back and Marc had his Ninja sword. I pulled my charging handle on my rifle and patted my webbing to make sure I had extra mags. Rees had already checked his rifle and made sure he had a round ready in his pistol.

Once everyone said they were ready I pushed the gate open wide and went in, turning to the left as soon as I had got two feet inside. Becky followed straight away and I turned to see Rees and Marc come in to cover their side. The entrance way to the castle was cobbled and went up a short slope between the outer wall and the side of the actual fort building. Walking to the top of the slope we stood in a small courtyard, and in front were some wide steps leading to the large front door to the fort. From where we stood, there were no windows, low down and only one’s high up in the stone work. Keeping each other covered we started toward the door, we had covered roughly half the courtyard, when Rees said he saw movement at one of the windows.

I just nodded and continued to the door and tried to open it. It was not locked or barred and open easily, with no squeaks or groans. We went with the left, right approach at the entry to the fort itself. The only difference was that Rees went first, then Marc, myself and Becky went in after. The entrance hall was a large open space with a central staircase leading up to a balcony, there were large stain glass windows set high up that cast colored patterns on the floor. Along the walls were tapestries and flags hanging from posts set into the walls. To the left was an opening into another room, but on the only one opening on the right and that seemed to go down.

Rees and Marc started up the stairs and after a short period they disappeared into the hallway at the top of the stairs.

I went to the opening and carefully looked round and into a long room with a large dark wood table and twelve high backed chairs round it. Against the inside wall of the room was a large fireplace that had sculpted dragons holding the mantel up. On each side of the fireplace was a couple of oil paintings of men in armor or dressed in high necked coats with ruffles and large cuffs. We each took a side of the room and moved slowly, our feet echoing on the flagstone floor.

At the far end of the room was a large wooden door, we got to the door and got ready to open it. I stood waiting for the echo’s of our footsteps to fade before moving. I wanted to be able to hear if there was any movement on the other side of the door before opening it. The room was finally quiet and I was able to listen to the door. I couldn’t hear anything, so we opened the door and I moved inside.

This next area was a short corridor between rooms. The next door was wide open and we walked inside, the next room seemed to be a two story library. The high stain glass windows scattered colored light on all the books, there was three small tables with bench’s on either side in the center of the room. On each table sat a candle, and at the last table was a high backed chair. Behind that was a smaller, but no less grand fireplace, off to the left hand side of the fireplace was a curved stone staircase. And on the right side was a small wooden door about half  the height of the others and that was saying something because the other doors must have been close to eleven feet tall.

Again, this door was closed and I waited for our echo’s to fade before listening for movement. There was a slight scratching sound from the other side and I immediately pointed to my ear and then to the door to let Becky know that I had heard something. She nodded and stood behind me with her back to the wall. I took hold of the iron hoop handle and pulled the door open. As it came open I went to one knee and swung round the corner to aim my rifle into the room. The scratching sound had come from tapestry being blown by a breeze from an open window. The room was a small chapel that had a vaulted roof. The Long room had a few low pews and at the end a large wooden cross mounted on the wall above the altar. Running along each wall were stained glass windows showing different scenes from the Crucifixion of Christ.

That was the last of what we had classed as the ground floor rooms. With not finding anything and not finding any more doors, we headed back to the main hall and the staircase. Walking into the main hall, Marc and Rees hadn’t returned yet so Becky went to sit on the bottom steps of the stairs. I walked over to the where we had seen the opening with steps leading down. I wasn’t going to go down there yet, it was dark and creepy, so I walked back to Becky and waited for the others to turn up.

After about fifteen minutes we heard footsteps at the top of the stairs and I lifted my rifle to my shoulder. Marc appeared first, followed by Rees, and they slowly came down the stairs. Marc smiled when he saw that Becky was safe, and she turned to look up at him and smiled. Rees came to stand next to me and said "We checked out all the rooms that we could find. We never came across anyone or anything up there, so whatever we saw when we arrived, was either not there or we were mistaken."

“Ok, we check downstairs and then we move everyone inside.” I said.

“Walker there's another building out the back that we could see from the upstairs windows. It looks like there is a set of steps coming from somewhere downstairs up to a green courtyard area that has the building behind it.” He said.

“Ok, we take our time and clear the downstairs area. How many rooms were upstairs?” I said.

“There are eight rooms, but there are no bathrooms which might be a problem.” Marc said.

“Ok, come on lets get the rest done and out the way.”

We moved to the opening and I said “I'll take point guys, Rees you take the rear, Marc and Becky stay in the center. If there is room to spread out when we get down there. Then we will split into the groups we were in before and clear the whole area. After that we'll have to find the exit to the courtyard, then we will have to clear the building at the back.” I said and started down the steps.

When I got to the bottom, it opened out into a large kitchen area. The only problem with that was it happened to be an eighteenth century kitchen, with no modern appliances. There were three exits out of the kitchen, we could see just by entering that the kitchen was clear.

“Think that door on the right takes us out to the courtyard, but we still have two other doors to check out. Rees and Marc if you take the door on the left. Becky and I will check the one at the opposite us.” I said.

We moved into position and opened the doors at nearly the same time. Nothing rushed out from either doorways, Rees, then Marc went through their door. I went through our doorway and Becky followed, I walked into a store room with a curved roof, the only items inside were some wooden barrels that were empty and a stack of hessian bags that only had straw inside. There were no more doors or openings anywhere in the storeroom so we went back into the kitchen.