Underwood (13 page)

‘What do you mean changed?’

Tony leaned forward in his deckchair ‘see that’ he said, pointing to the landscape ‘that wasn’t there last week’

Peter looked at Tony, their eyes locked,

Tony continued ‘Every time there is a storm, the landscape changes, and sometimes, just like you, new people arrive, and the shelves are full, and the fields are growing and the whole place just becomes more fucked up’ he spat out the last words,

‘The three that run it, can’t they be taken down’ Peter asked, it seemed such a logical question,

Tony laughed, but it wasn’t a joyous laugh, it was a laugh full of sarcasm and pain,

‘The three people don’t run the place, it’s what’s in the woods that runs the place’

‘So we take them down first’

‘You don’t get it do you’

Peter stood defiant, looking at the woods surrounding the estate, ‘We take them three down, and then we burn the fucking woods’

Tony stood beside him, both men had a beer bottle in their hand, Peter spoke again

‘You’re the only person I have met who’s not terrified of this place’

Tony pondered the question, ‘it’s not fear it’s hate, I’m not scared of dying if it’s for a cause’

‘And what would the cause be’ Tony’s answer was quick as if he knew the question was coming,

‘To burn it to the ground, just like you said, I want to destroy this fucking place,’

‘Will you help me save my family’ asked Peter,

Tony could see the desperation in his eyes, he had seen it many times before, he guessed he had the same look in his own eyes, he liked the guy that he was speaking to, he just didn’t get how this place works, how Underwood operates.

‘To get out of here you have got to understand how you got in’ Tony replied ‘are you scared of dying Peter’

‘Not if it’s for a cause’ he smiled as he said it,

‘Well I have a theory, do you want to hear it’

‘Of course I do’

So Tony grabbed two more beers and told him.

‘Come on ladies it’s almost midnight, I want to go to bed, said Craig, he was talking to the only two people left in the pub, Sue Bradshaw and June Murphy, who tonight just like every other night had been drowning their sorrows in Underwood’s finest home-made wine,

Sue went to stand up and flopped back into her seat ‘oops’ she said, a cigarette drooped from the corner of her mouth.

Craig held his hand out and pulled her up, Sue put her hands around his neck as she stood, in a moment of affection and to gain her balance.

‘I do love you Craigy’ she told him, they both laughed as she released him,

‘Come on you piss ed’ said June and took her sisters arm’

‘Goodnight ladies’ said Craig, with a big smile on his face, the girls acknowledged him with smiles and waves as they walked out into the night and into the pub car park.

Sue tried to pull her arm away ‘I don’t need you to hold me up’ she told her sister’

‘No but I need you to hold me up’ she laughed.

June Murphy had never lived in Underwood before it changed, she was simply visiting her sister, as she often did June would come and spend the night with Sue, they would go up to the then , Underwood social club, grab a takeaway and back home to talk about the good times.

June had never seen her husband again, she wasn’t sure what had happened, like so many others in Underwood, they had gone to bed that night, the worse for wear from the lagers and the wine, young pretty sisters, they woke up the next day and things had changed, the view had changed, either Underwood had left the world it stood in, or the world had left it, they never knew, thankful that they at least had each other.

Sue and June had made a pact, when they both thought that they had enough, they would hand in hand walk into the woods, they knew you never come out and more and likely died, but maybe there was something else beyond the woods, maybe there was life and the world that somehow got left behind, one day they would find out, when they both have had enough.

Tonight would be no different, tonight could be the night, but they both doubted that, as time goes by and the wine numbs the brain, memories fade, they had each other, for now that would be good enough, until they woke up the next morning, did the same thing, drunk the same wine, and walked home thinking that tonight may be the night.

They linked arms, the gentle breeze pleasing against their faces, the moon shone, June was thinking of the bottle of wine cooling in the fridge for when they got home to Willow, it was a routine they had followed most nights,

‘Which way tonight’ asked June, Sue gave it some thought, it confused her with the landscape changing all of the time, mixed in with the wine it wasn’t a good question to ask,

‘Let’s walk to the bottom of Hawthorne, I think there’s trees there now’

‘There’s trees every fucking where’ groaned June.

It took them ten minutes to get there and sure enough just as they suspected, there were trees, Sue was sure last week there was a field before the trees, but it didn’t matter, tonight it was trees, and as they did every night they stood looking at the trees, 20 metres from the woods edge, both wondering whether the woods would lead to freedom or to something much worse, they stood side by side staring, memories came flooding back for both girls, good memories that were starting to fade and it was taking all that they could do to hold onto them.

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.

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 4
th
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 3
rd
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.