Reapers Mist: Third in the Reaper Trilogy by Justin Gowland (4 page)

Things had changed so much in the last couple of months; the noises that I heard every night in my flat back home were no longer there. The light from the houses and street lights at night seemed to make things safer even though we all knew bad things still happened during those hours, but the appearance of safety helped people to sleep. Now the night seemed to come like an evil presence at the end of each day and choke the color and light from the world. With this blackness came the noises of animals and creatures that you seldom heard if you lived in an urban environment, but it now also came with the hunting noise of the Reapers and if you were still trying to survive in any town or city. The unfortunate cries and screams of those that had been hunted down and caught.

I turned back to look down into our little home and saw the light I missed streaming out of the café and the gift shop. I heard for the first time since this had all began the familiar tone of an Xbox starting up. I walked back down the steps, smiling and went into the gift shop to see Marc arguing with Chris and the two girls as to who got to play on it first. (You know even if he grew up and had kids I think Marc would have argued.)

“Marc, let the kids play on it.” I said.

“Dude, I got it because I hadn’t played it on it yet!” He cried.

(God, he was nearly crying.)

“Look the kids have had nothing since this all started and you have gotten to live the ultimate real life COD and shoot guns.” I said.

Chapter Four

Looking at the floor he passed to controller to Chris and slowly walked past me saying “Well, you’re right about that, but when they go to bed I am having a go.”

I patted him on the back and followed him into the café where all the adults had put the tables together and sat drinking. I went and got myself a tea from the ever present urn on the counter. Turning I leaned my back against the counter and watched as Rees started to take the piss out of Marc and his moaning about the Xbox One. Becky just pulled Marc onto the seat next to her. Drinking my tea I turned to see Jacob standing beside me.

“Jay, I know you hope that this place might be a permanent home, but have you thought about what might happen if we get over run from the mainland?” He asked.

“Yeah, Rees and I were trying to figure a redundancy for if something like that ever happened. From the look on your face I can see that you have an idea.” I replied.

“Hey, don’t get me wrong the island idea was a great one, the only problem we have is that causeway.”

“Yeah, I know Rees wanted to try and destroy it, but I pointed out it was a sandbar. I would take years if ever to make it more secure.”

“Well, you know there are the Farne Islands to the south about five miles away by boat.”

“The Farne Islands aren’t they a wildlife preserve or something?” I said puzzled where this was going.

“It is but there is a lighthouse and some other buildings on there as well. Here is the best part, and you’re going to like it, you can only get there by sea, there is no causeway.” He said smiling.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me. I thought this place was going to be great, but then you come along and kick a big fucking hole in it.”

“Don’t work yourself over about it. The actual island only has a few buildings on it and can get really harsh in the winter. The only reason I thought of it was, to use it as a fall back if we needed it.” He said.

“Jacob, you are a star mate. It would be a good place if we needed to get the women and kids somewhere safe. Do you have any ideas how we could have a look at the island?” I asked.

“Can’t see it being a problem, we just need a boat and then head down the coast. I mean you can see the island from the coast no problem.” He said.

I waved Rees over and asked Jacob to fill him in on what he had just told me, his response “What the Fuck?” We then went on to tell him about the island not being as good as Holy Island for living on. With that his shoulders seemed to relax and he nodded his head.

“That actually takes a lot off my mind. I have been trying to think of somewhere that we could bug out too if necessary.” Rees said.

“Well, unless you know the area, then you wouldn’t know about the buildings on the Farne Islands. I had a caravan up at the Haggerston Castle, and we used to come here for holidays. So we took the kids every now to here and Farne.” Jacob said.

Looking at them I said “So a couple of questions. The first of which being how do we get a boat and the second is do we check out the island before we use it as a fallback?”

“Well, there are a few houses on the mainland near here that have piers with boats.” Jacob replied.

“Yeah, you remember what Simon said Walker!” said Rees.

“Humph! That little psycho ran that boat into the sandbar, but he did say he got it from someone’s private berth.” I replied.

I tapped a finger on my leg and Ghost appeared from round the counter to rub against my leg.

“Where the hell did he come from?” said Jacob backing up.

“Oh! Don’t worry about Ghost, he’s Walker’s stupid mutt.” Rees replied.

Ghost looked at Rees and a slow growl rumbled in his chest. Rees laughed, bent down and rubbed Ghost’s head in between his hands. Ghost just let his tongue hang from the side of his mouth in a doggy grin.

“Shit, he’s a quiet one.” Jacob said.

“The only thing he is good for at the moment is sleeping and eating. He was my dads, but when my dad died, he came with me. I love him, but he can be as dumb as a post sometimes.” I said.

“Back to your questions Walker I think you might be right to check out this island first.” He said standing up.

I looked up at him and said “Ok, it’s getting late now; I think we can get some sleep and talk in the morning about it. Also, I can see Marc edging further and further towards the gift shop. If he starts a fight with the kids again, you’re going to have to smack his arse.” I said to Rees.

“God, I swear he is worse than Bob. You remember Bob?” Rees said smiling.

“Aw for god sake I had forgotten about Bob.” I said.

Jacob looked at us both in turn and said “Bob? Was he a survivor?”

“Nah, this was back when Rees and I were in the Army together.” I said and went on to tell the tale of Bob.

Now you see back when Rees and I first started serving in the Army. Handheld game consoles had just started to appear. I think the one that had Bob hooked was a Gamelad or Gamemate something like that. Anyway, Bob was into the latest game tech, and always had something new. Well, we were on patrol in an armored Land Rover in Northern Ireland back when the troubles were still being played out.

We had just turned a corner to see a republican flag hanging from a lamp post now we had orders to pull them down if we saw them. We stopped and got out of the Land Rover. But Bob being Bob was sitting in the back playing with his new toy. All we could hear coming from the back was the beep and bing. We decided to send the new private in our patrol up on top of the Land Rover to pull it down.

What we didn’t know was that lamp post had been filled with explosive and the flag was the trigger. The explosion knocked us all flat. Well, I say all of us the private (never can remember his name.) was sort of spread in a circle of red for about fifty meters. (I think Rees had an eyeball or something on his jacket when he stood back up. I am not too sure about that.) The Land Rover was on its side and was torn apart; there was nothing we could do for the private. So we rushed to see if Bob was ok. There he was, lay on his side crying out in pain and shock. He had lacerations on his face, but his right arm was missing and blood was pumping out in spurts. The squad medic rushed in and started to stabilize him.

That’s when Rees called out and turned to see him looking down at something on the ground. I walked over at there was part of Bob’s arm. Well, I say part, it was his hand and he still had the console in it. But the thing that stands out was that the thumb still had some remaining nerve impulses and it was tapping on one of the buttons. Suffice to say that Bob couldn’t stand the sight of any type of gaming device since then.

Jacob just looked shocked at what had happened to Bob. Rees and I just shrugged. Jacob wandered over to his son and extracted the controller from his hands. He had a quiet but strained word with his son and said that he would talk with us in the morning. He left the gift shop and started off to the castle for bed. His son was complaining behind him all the way to the castle. Derek and Christine came past next and told us they were off to bed as well. The girls got up and followed when called, but unlike Jacob’s son there was no complaining.

Marc sat on the couch with the controller in his hand just looking at the screen.

I shouted over “Dude, what’s up?”

“Erm... can you believe it? I actually don’t feel like playing on it now that I can. It feels like a waste of time.” He said.

“Fuck, that’s not Marc. What the fuck have you done with Marc? You alien scum!” shouted Rees.

Marc just looked stunned. Becky had her hand over her mouth trying to hide a huge smile. Maddie and Mary started laughing and I just shook my head at his stunned expression. Maddie and Mary stood and cleared away the cups and mugs whilst laughing at Marc’s face as it got redder and redder. I walked over to him and said “Just turn it off bud.”

“That was not cool Rees you giant fuck!” He said.

“Actually, it was very funny.” Becky said finally succumbing to the giggles.

Marc face just fell and after a few seconds a small smile spread across it.

“Ok, maybe a little funny.” He said.

I waited till Maddie had come back out of the kitchen and said “I am off to bed with the missus. See you all in the morning.”

I walked across and took her hand, placed a gentle kiss on her lips and we walked upstairs.

The morning came and I was up before Maddie and decided to get up. I slowly untangled myself and pulled on some clothes, grabbed my rifle and webbing. Quietly letting myself out of our room, I walked across the now nearly empty living room and out the apartment. I stood at the top of the stairs and pulled on the webbing before going down.

The café and gift shop were empty and the outside door was closed. Opening it, I was greeted by the smell of the sea and a gray sky. I walked across the courtyard and up the steps to the top of the wall. I stood where I had the night before and looked out over the wall. The night before me was all empty and black. This morning there was a gray light and a low ground fog. The fog seemed to only reach halfway up the wall, which gave the impression of standing above the clouds. The fog rolled and billowed below me. All I could think was there could be any amount of dangers under that mist.

Reapers could have the castle surrounded and we would have no way of knowing. I was stood woolgathering when Rees came up the steps to stand next to me.

“I thought it was you up here. You ok?” He asked.

“What? Oh... yeah, just thinking.” I replied.

“That cause’s all your problems you know?”

“What does?”

“Thinking you do it too much; sometimes a gut reaction is the right reaction.” He said looking out over the wall.

“Since when did you become the sage of all wisdom?” I asked.

“Since all this shit started to happen. I have something to tell you as well.” He answered.

“What that you and Mary have been bumping uglies?”

He turned to look at me, but I was watching the mist with a small smile on my lips.

“How the fuck did you know? We were being as quiet as possible about it.” He said looking at me dumbfounded.

Still watching the mist, I said “Mate you might have been trying to keep it on the down low, but your shite at it. I am sure everyone knows about you and Mary by now. I think everyone was just giving you both some privacy and not wanting to interfere.”

He stood staring at me for a few seconds, then said “You always have been a sneaky git, Walker.”

“Nothing sneaky about it mate. I saw that you were happy and waited for when you were ready to tell me.” I turned and looked him in the face and continued “You’re my best mate and are like a brother. We have seen war together and fought together. This mess has made me think that if you can get some happiness then you take it. Plus, you do your best to either defend your family or support them. Mate you are part of my family and I would die before ever hurting you either intentionally or by accident.”

He stood looking at me after my little speech, and then pulled me in close for a large hug. (The git had to go and spoil the moment by squeezing my arse.)

He let go and said “Bud, from basic till now you have always been a mate and I can now call you brother.”

We then turned back to look over the wall.

“You do realize that this doesn’t mean we are going steady?” I said.

He laughed and shook his head. There was noise coming from the café and we turned to see movement inside. The warm light from the window was spilling into the courtyard. That triggered a thought and I said “How much fuel do you think we have left for the generator?”

“To be honest, I don’t know, but it might be an idea to have a check on it.” He said walking down the steps.