Society: After It Happened Book 3 (5 page)

VEGETARIAN PRISON

Henry was maybe a little older than Leah, and very easily bored.  He had even taken to doing press-ups obsessively in an attempt to impress the older girls from the group.  There were two of them, and he took their giggling to mean that he was getting somewhere when in fact they were laughing at him.

Lucy was ten, and looked as though she had just given up.  She looked at the chicken pen for hours, longing for the chance to cook one the ungainly birds and eat every last scrap of flesh from its bones.  It consumed her; she dreamt of roast chicken.

Neither enjoyed it there, and both had a similar story in that they were found and brought here; one by Gregory and one by a kind woman who harboured thoughts of raising her for future breeding.

They both rebelled, both were punished by being sent to sit in solitary boredom for hours at a time.  Neither of them wanted to work, and neither wanted to stay.

“Have you tried to leave?” Dan asked them. 

Henry did once, but he came back.  He wouldn’t admit that he was scared, and Dan doubted if he’d even got to the main road.  Lucy hadn’t, she just sat bored.  They were both unhappy.

Lexi began to tell them about their home.  As she spoke, the kids looked up.  They grew more attentive with each line she spoke, and when finally they were offered to come and live with them instead both jumped up to say yes.  They would both have probably asked anyway.  Dan couldn’t believe how trusting these people were; or maybe he underestimated just how much they didn’t like people who didn’t fit in.  He recognised it for what it was; it was one bizarre meeting about the power of Mother Nature away from being a cult.

Dan had no great wish to involve the spiritual in their lives; a person’s beliefs were their own he thought.  He very much believed in the concept of each to their own, but having to live under the stifling blanket of a faith you didn’t want would be too much to cope with.  Both kids packed their small amount of belongings and barely held their excitement as they bounced to the Discovery.

Dan turned to Scarlet, seeing her flanked by younger women dressed in the same way as her. 

“We will be back to trade in a week, if the kids don’t like it there they will be brought back then”

Scarlet nodded sagely.  He noticed that not one person said goodbye to the children.

He turned and unlocked the Land Rover, asking them to wait.  “Ash; over” he said, making the reluctant dog jump into the boot.  Lucy made a noise at seeing him and Dan explained to them both.

“He is not a pet.  Please don’t put your hands through to him or he might bite you” he struggled for the words to get it through to them exactly what Ash was.  Lexi stepped in, “Did either of you ever see a police dog?” she asked.  Both nodded “Well until Ash knows you and gets used to you, just be careful of him, Ok?  Don’t try and stroke him!”

They understood.

Henry’s face when he saw their guns was a picture; his eyes grew so wide on seeing the shotgun that he could barely speak or break his gaze away.  Dan talked as he drove.

“There are a few of us who make sure that everyone is safe.  We’re the ones who go out and make the dangerous places less dangerous.  It’s not for everyone, but it needs to be done so we can live in safety.  We’re called Rangers”

Henry showed his immaturity by asking outright if he can be one too.

“It’s about what training we’ve had” he said, thinking that he had to come up with an excuse for a girl younger than him having weapons “We all have previous experience which takes years to learn.  You’ll have to see how it goes, get really fit and try when you’re older.  If you want to stay that is”

He sank back in his seat.  Lucy said nothing for about thirty miles, until she asked “What’s for lunch?”

They had left ‘The Haven’ as they had called it before meal time, and Dan looked to Lexi.  She dug into her E&E bag and came out with snack bars, crisps and two bottles of water.

“Here” she said, handing them back and ignoring Ash’s best ‘I’m a good boy’ face with his top lip tucked behind a row of teeth “We usually eat lunch on the go as we work.  There’ll be a hot meal tonight though”

Neither kids really heard her; they were ripping into the carbohydrate rich food like they had spent years in a Turkish prison, their faces melting with the satisfaction of the taste of food they weren’t allowed.

A few questions came from the back as they drove, and the four spoke about the way life went in their own personal manor house.  Ash watched Lexi for a while, still waiting for his treat.  He gave up, grumbling, and turned to look out of the rear window.

GAINS AND LOSSES

They arrived back before Steve and Joe, sedately coming down the drive and rolling over the patches on the tarmac where the blood and fluids from the wrecked cars were starting to wash away.

Both made the right noises as the ornate building came into sight, although Dan felt that its original grandeur was slightly marred by the solar panels which looked like they had landed from space on the roof.

Dan pulled up to his usual space by the front door, and climbed out.

“Hang on here for a minute with them?” he said to Lexi.  She nodded.  He let Ash out of the boot, and nearly tripped over him as he made straight for the nearest tyre to irrigate it.  Leah met him at the door.  She was wearing a belt holster with an identical gun to Dan’s new Walther sat proudly on her skinny left hip in a cross draw position.

He smiled at her, and asked for Marie and Kate to come and meet the newbies.  Leah tiptoed and strained her eyes past him but couldn’t see inside the Discovery’s tinted windows.

Kate was the first out, asking Dan who he had found.  “Hang on for a minute, I’ll explain in one go.  Is Lizzie free to give them a tour while we talk?” she nodded and went inside, bringing Alice and Lizzie out for induction duties.

Marie appeared, having politely cut short one of her sessions with a survivor from the shipping container cage.  Rich stayed in Ops; he didn’t like the stares his scars got from people who didn’t know him,

Dan beckoned Lexi to bring them out, and a smiling but nervous ten-year-old Lucy and fourteen-year-old Henry were introduced.  Henry’s eyes rested on Leah’s left hip, but a respectable attempt at a death stare from her made him look away embarrassed.  Dan reminded himself to explain to Henry that Leah wasn’t on the menu; not unless he wanted an injury or three.

Lizzie and Alice took them in for the tour and for new clothes as they were still in the white linen outfits of the organic fanatics as Lexi had named them.

As they went inside out of sight he leaned back against his vehicle and lit a smoke.  Lexi and Marie did the same and he wondered that it was strange how the idea to light a cigarette was socially catching.  Rich walked out to hear the debrief and stood behind Leah.

Dan explained about meeting the slightly weird loner guy, and how he led them to ‘The Haven’.  The way he explained the place actually made it sound really good, so he shot their collective hopes down by making a point of it seeming like a cult.

“Lex calls them the Organic Fanatics” he said. 

Lexi shrugged “It’s accurate” she added.

“Anyway, it seems to us that they have no interest in having these kids back, so unless they have a big change of heart they are ours now” nobody disagreed.

Marie went back inside to make plans for the children to be inducted properly and found living space, not only that they needed a chaperone as such to start with.  Kate followed, readying for another two medical histories to be taken.  Dan saw Lexi look at her watch.  He knew Paul would be in the gym now, and he was feeling generous.

“I’ll go speak to Chris about the trade; take the afternoon off” he said.  She lit up and walked inside to secure her kit, thanking him.

Dan called her back to take his carbine and shotgun.  He walked up to the farm with Ash sniffing along the hedgerows beside him.  He found Chris talking with Melissa and gave them both the run down on the hippy farm.  Chris was annoyed.

“How could I have forgotten that place?!” he cursed himself.  He went on to say how they used pre-machinery farming methods and described the place as the closest the area has to an Amish community.  They thought the genepool swap was a great idea, and Chris asked to accompany him on the return trip.

“Of course you can” Dan agreed “You think I’m taking a bull anywhere without your help?”

Plans were made, and Melissa turned to Chris to give him her new ideas for expansion.  The timing of it would allow them to get lambs out of this coming season.  He bid his farewells, leaving farm manager and chief geneticist to their discussions and walked back to the house as he smoked.  The realisation of a Penny legacy put a smile on his face as he had unwittingly given his friends grand titles.

He got back and was immediately collared by Leah to come and see what they had done.  The large map covering one wall had been moved as they had been sorting out the office now it wasn’t part ammo store.  In doing so, they had uncovered a large blackboard which must have become defunct when the prison had years ago turned to computers to manage their roll-call.  It had a grid system for writing in numbers of prisoners based on where they were.  There was a section for the farms, the gardens, the works party, the kitchens and others.  Leah and Rich had scrubbed off some sections, and added new ones using tip-ex.  The ‘total count’ section at the bottom right became their first official population counter.

“Now, when someone goes out” said Leah excitedly “We mark down how many go to what place and mark them back in.  She made a point of rubbing R1 and R2 off of the section ‘Ranging’ and adding two to the count in the house.  He looked at her, seeing a young girl so pleased with herself for doing something new that his heart melted a little.  He really was pleased with her and proud of her work.  His eyes rested on the Walther on her hip, and he was about to say something about her using a weapon she hadn’t been trained with.  He decided not to; this girl had done everything and more to get his approval and to be the best she could be at everything she did.  She had killed to protect her home, and he thought that he should probably give her some leeway.  It was way past the point where he didn’t trust her with weapons, so he let it slide. 

“Good work, I’m impressed!” he said “you two sure you can keep on top of this then?  Lots of people moving in and out nowadays”

“We’ve got it under control Boss” said Rich, giving a conspiratorial wink behind Leah’s back.  Dan turned to her.

“I see you’ve switched to the P99 too?” he said.  She placed her left hand on the weapon, slightly self-conscious. “Yeah, I like the weight of it.  It feels chunky” she said quietly, not wishing to sound childish by admitting that she wanted to carry the same gun as him.

“Me too” he said, satisfied with the flattery of imitation.  He walked to the dining room to get a hot coffee.

The kids were excited about the place, not giving any indication that they thought it was a temporary arrangement.  He was happy with that.  Word went round those in the house quickly about the new arrivals, and he found a small huddle around them.  He saw Lucy tucking into a plate of jam tarts brought out by Cara who was ever happy to see people enjoying her treats.  Henry was telling them about the place where they had been, and wasn’t making it sound very welcoming.  Dan noticed Eve listening intently, lapping up every word he said.

He hadn’t thought of her for a while; her or the child who spent months attached to her leg.  He couldn’t see the girl now and looked around for her. He leaned closer to Nina as she walked past carrying drinks for the kids and asked her where she was.

“She’s moved into Cara’s room now.” She said, shocked that Dan didn’t know.

“Both the little ones stay with her, but the girl still doesn’t talk to anyone” he felt a little bit bad for not knowing, but then reasoned with himself that he wasn’t exactly idle and couldn’t be expected to know the social ins and outs of over seventy people.  He left them to it, and went to find something constructive to do.  Carrying his coffee and two jam tarts he walked out through the lounge area where Ash had curled up on one of the large settees.  Smelling food, he jumped down and followed expectantly, receiving the pastry crusts to reinforce his faith in scrounging from people.  They walked outside where he lit another cigarette and stood in the cold sunlight.

He suddenly felt very lonely, as if everyone else was busy but him right now.  He thought of things he could do to be constructive, and settled on a visit to Pete to see how he was healing.

He found him sat up in bed with Alice reading to him.  He could read just fine, but he liked the company.  Not wanting to intrude he nodded his hello’s to the pair and left.

Still lost for something to do, he went to his room and took off his boots.  With Ash taking up a large portion of the floor – Marie made it clear she was not sharing the bed with him too – he lay back and picked up the book he had on the table next to the bed.  He’d meant to start reading it about six months ago, but until now he hadn’t had the chance. 

He must have dozed off at one point, because Marie woke them both having looked everywhere for him to say dinner was ready.  As they walked downstairs she said that Eve had come to talk to her.  She beat around the bush a lot, but she wanted to go on the trade run to see ‘The Haven’.  Dan saw no real reason to refuse her, so agreed.