Underwood (8 page)

Peter grabbed his cell bars with both hands as if trying to prize them apart, his nostrils flared, he gritted his teeth,

‘And how do you leave Underwood’

Craig stood up, there was an uneasy grimace on his face,

‘They say the woods, but you really wouldn’t want to go in the woods’

Peter came back immediately ‘what’s in the woods’ he asked Craig,

Craig’s expression changed, his shoulders sank, and for the first time Peter noticed Craig looked a beaten man, ‘no one’s ever lived to tell’ he said,

They both stood in silence, trying to take in what was just said, it was as if Craig had not heard it before, but of course he had, he never wanted to speak about the woods, it had taken so much away from the town’ he offered his hand to Peter through the bars of the cell, Peter accepted the gesture and they shook hands,

‘We are not all bad around here’ he told Peter and Craig turned to leave, Peter called his name, Craig turned around,

‘Could someone check on my wife and kids’ he pleaded,

‘Sure’ he answered, and Craig left the prison, hating every inch of the town he lived in.

The wooden floor sports hall was full of the residents of Underwood, when the courts stood all able bodied residents were expected to attend, most did to scared not to, but some didn’t, that was mainly those who were not bothered with the consequences, to the far end of the sports hall was a stage, beside the stage was a metal cage, raised from the ground on a temporary platform, it had brought back a lot of bad memories for some of those that stood there and watched, the others had somehow managed to blank it from their minds, but sometimes it would come back to haunt them, inside the cage stood Peter Ford, the newest resident of Underwood who had the audacity to punch the ruling sheriff, and as people looked on most had only a secret admiration for the man that stood before them, some wished they had the same courage as the man who stood caged like a wild animal, in the short time Peter Ford had been in Underwood he had gained a lot of respect as the news of him hitting the sheriff spread, he had gained a lot of friends and admirers, but it was the enemy’s he may have had that will come back to haunt him, that’s what everyone was thinking in the hall, there were no martyrs in Underwood, just sacrificial lambs.

Peter had been taken to the hall by the two deputies who had taken him to his cell, this time there was no fight, and the deputy’s showed signs of remorse, at the time Peter noticed their vulnerability, the look of defeat on their faces that they both showed, not comrades in arms, more like comrades facing defeat, surrendering from the last battle, wondering why they were fighting the war at all, Peter stood in his cage, staring down at the onlookers, and the eyes that he did meet always turned away, he gripped the bars tightly in an act of defiance as he looked around the hall, then his grip loosened and the tension running through his body released as he saw them and his heart sunk and he felt a knotting in the pit of his stomach, at the back of the hall stood beside Craig Jones was Peter’s family, Eileen, Nathan and Lily, he could see the fear etched on their faces, but at least they were alive and seemingly well, he just wanted to be with them, to reassure them, to protect them, he wanted to reach out just to caress their faces, most of all he needed to plan his way out of the crazy world he somehow found himself in, he wasn’t going to mess this up, he couldn’t, his family depended on it.

Craig had, as promised gone to look in on Peter’s wife and children, and it tugged at his heart strings to find them sat in the house shaking in fear, he could see the tear stains on their faces, a family that had simply walked into another world, a world not of their own, a world they did not deserve to be in, Craig had tried to assure them as much as he could that everything would be okay, but he hadn’t believed it himself, not for a long time had he believed it, and he knew the three he talked to believed not one word of his reassurance, and for that moment he put himself part of the blame for creating this horrible town. he hoped there would never be any new residents and they would all just die off and this world would disappear, but there had been, a family taken from their own world into the world of Underwood, with all its torment and horror, he had escorted them to the centre to where Peter would be, that’s all he could do, he just hoped he had done the right thing, to have a father and husband die is one thing, to watch them die was completely off the scale.

The two deputy’s stood in front of the large desk that sat on the stage, Sandra Skellam and Dylan Williams, the towns 2 deputy’s appointed by the sheriff, they bore no arms, handcuffs and a baton the tools of their particular trade, but they didn’t need anything else, the fear of the person they worked for would make most people think twice about committing any wrongdoing, the consequences were just too great, it wasn’t a job they chose, it was a job they were given.

In the field beside the centre lay a dying fire, where a funeral had taken place earlier in the day, where the body had been laid on the bonfire and set alight, there was no grace or respect, no words of prayers or comfort, no family to weep for them, as they too had died during the past years, any tears by those who looked on were hidden, it was just a body burnt like a Guy Fawkes on a bonfire, or what was remained of it, as it was found on the edge of the woods with the bottom half of the torso missing, just another person trying to flee the terrors of Underwood.

The hall stood silent and the air somehow grew cold as Philip Lenan, Underwood’s judge and jury took to the stage, Philip had been the judge in Underwood since it was created, along with the vicar and sheriff, they were the rulers of Underwood, they were the law, the creators, and the rule makers. The vicar and the sheriff were not in attendance at today’s hearing, the judge had never failed to do what was right, and he would do what was right this time, it would be short, sharp and decisive, there was no time for anything more, that was his style, there was no need for a jury, his word was final, they nicknamed him “the judge of death.”

Philip Lenan was of the same build as the other rulers of the town, he also gave off the same aura of fear, he was clean shaven and extremely well presented, underneath the wig he adorned for the courts, was a fine head of brown hair, and as the other rulers appeared to do, as he sat he rubbed his chin with his fingers and his thumb, he looked around he didn’t ask for silence for his presence demanded it, to the residents of Underwood he was the one they feared most, he was the one that determined who lived, who died, and the most fearful ruling, who would be sent to the woods, it had a sentiment of the town congregating for a hanging, except those that gathered did not want to see no hanging, they did not want to see anyone sent to the woods, they wanted peace and quiet, no longer wanting normality as no one could remember what normal was anymore.

Philip shuffled some papers in front of him, although he didn’t need papers, he knew the charge against the man in the Cage, he knew that insubordination could not be tolerated, his was a professional organisation and looking professional was paramount to him, it was only achieved by years and years of discipline and training.

His voice was deep and loud and could be heard at the back of the hall, some of the 200 or so people shivered as he spoke, not for the first time had they shivered at the sound of his voice.

‘Peter Ford, you have been charged with insubordination and striking a police officer, how do you plead’

His words ran cold to everyone that could hear.

His family huddled each other, unsure what world they were really in, if they were to ask someone, no one would really come up with an answer.

Every single eye in that room went towards Peter, and all Peter could think about was how the hell he had landed up in this kangaroo court, it still wasn’t real, he was somehow expecting it all to end and someone explain to him that it had all been a mistake, but here he was in an iron cage like a wild animal waiting to be sentenced for protecting his family, Philip’s stare was cold and challenging, he was expecting defiance, Peter scanned the room, wondering how the hell he had become a holiday maker to a caged man awaiting sentence, it felt like he had gone to sleep and woken up in the wrong century, he wanted to shout, scream swear and tell them how wrong they all were, and that someone was going to pay and as he glanced around his eyes locked on a man in his 50’s, he was stood no further than 3 feet from the cage he was kept in, no one stood by him, the man was alone, he appeared to want to attract Peter’s attention, the look on this man’s face was distinctive in a way that Peter felt drawn to, the man squinted his eyes and nodded, he mouthed the word Peter thought he wanted him to say, and he said it.

‘guilty’ said Peter as he faced the judge, as if the words were not his own, as if the words were given by the man who stared at him from the crowd, and the tension in the body of the man in the crowd seemed to lift, and suddenly there was relief on the faces of the people who stood looking at him, Eileen crumbled to her knees as Craig held her, Lily hugged Nathan, with tears streaming down her cheeks.

‘No’ she screamed, ‘he’s not guilty my dad hasn’t done anything’ she tried to make her way through the crowd until Craig held her back, all eyes fell upon the grief stricken teenager,

the judge eyed Peter, it had been their first resident in a long time, he looked in fine fettle, thought the judge, and the wenches that were with him looked in fine shape, particularly the young pretty one, it had been a good day for Underwood, the best catch they had for decades.

‘Is there any mitigation’ he asked Peter, again Peters eyes met the same man who whispered the words for him to say,

‘I apologise sir, I am new to the community and did not know any better, but I will learn from my mistake’, he sounded confident and convincing, if not scared.

Philip Lenan smiled, he liked it when they bowed down to his power, and ‘
this one knows who is boss’
he thought,
‘and we need a good plumber’
he let a smile form on his lips, the next part was the bit he liked most.

‘I sentence you to 10 lashes’ he said, still grinning, the crowd gasped, they had never heard of this punishment before, who would administer them, Peter shook with dread and fear, he wanted to protest the man in his fifties put his hands to his head.

‘Suspended’ added the judge, and he grinned as he said it,

‘Case closed’ he added, he had had his fun for today he enjoyed that, he thought the fear he saw in the prisoners eyes were enough punishment this time, but it felt good to the judge to make him sweat, the two deputy’s opened the cage and gestured for Peter to leave, Philip Lenan stood and left the hall, it was then Peter noticed the sheer size of the man, and as Philip left he stared at Peter, grinning, and as the crowd dispersed, relieved that there was going to be no public lashing or hanging, at least not on this day, Peter ran towards his family, grateful to be reunited as he hugged them and saw that they were all well, and for that moment Peter thought their nightmare was over, he thought they would be set free, he didn’t know it had only just begun.

‘Where the hell are we dad’ asked Lily as she wept and hugged her father, Nathan clung on to his leg as if he would never let go, Eileen was just pleased to have him by her side so they could try to sort this mess out, she needed him now more than ever, she didn’t realise how much they all depended on him.

‘It will be okay’ he told Lily as he hugged her, he doubted his own words and that’s what scared him most.

‘They’ve given us a house’ Eileen told him as they went to leave, outside Peter noticed the man in his fifties, the one who helped him, he shouted,

‘Excuse me’ at the man, Tony Griffiths turned and saw Peter standing there, their eyes locked and a smile drew on Tony’s face,

‘Thank you’ Peter said as he held out his hand to shake it,

‘No problem’ smiled Tony as he shook his hand,

‘What would have happened if I pleaded not guilty?’

‘Don’t ask’ said Tony ‘I’ll see you about’ he added

‘My names Peter’

‘I know it is’ he smiled, ‘mines Tony’

as he walked away, the evening was drawing in and for the first time since he had been there Peter spanned his surroundings, all he could see was trees, the town was in a circle of trees, and as he walked to his new home with his family, he wondered what was in the woods that everyone seemed so scared about, because if they were ever going to get out of the place they were imprisoned in, the woods seemed the only escape, as the roads seem to disappear.

When they got to the place they were now to call home, on the table, was their medical appointments for the morning, alongside a bag of tools were a list of the plumbing jobs Peter had to do in the afternoon.

52 year old Tony Griffiths walked home to his flat above the garage and car lot he built over the years, thankful at least the  guy in the cage had the sense to plead guilty and apologise, the sun was setting and as always the trees stood out from the sunset, it was at night they appeared to come alive, they would always sway in the evening, hear the wind whistling through the trees even when the night was still, but the storms were the worse, the storm of the magnitude of only a day ago, where the landscape around the town would change, like either the trees were spinning and the town still, or the other way around, he never quite got which one, but when you would wake up from the storm, the view you held from your windows was not there anymore, it would be replaced with another view, still of trees, always trees.

All he hoped for is that one day after a storm he would wake up and instead of the trees that surrounded them and lay home to whatever it was that lived there, there would be a road, a road to freedom, a road out of Underwood, that was the only reason he still lived.

As he opened the gates of his car lot and looked at the backdrop behind it, he hoped this view would last for a long time, because if it didn’t, all it would mean is that there were more lambs to the slaughter, and like most of the residents he wasn’t sure he could live with that.

He locked his gates, opened up his garage, he looked at the Avensis that stood in it, a hoist above the bonnet, he bit his bottom lip as he thought of the family it once belonged to, and like he did most nights took a bottle of homebrew out of the fridge and sat in his patio chair in the yard, watching the world go by, the small world of Underwood, watching the people walking home, some would wave and he waived back, some would stare as they walked by his lot, maybe envious of his job, maybe looking at the cars wondering if they would ever drive a car, he didn’t know why some people would ogle him, maybe they were just scared and that was the only expression they could use, he was the only mechanic in underwood, the only one with the skills needed to maintain the bus and the 3 police cars, the only vehicles in working order in the town, the only vehicles allowed to be in working order, that was part of his job, making sure no other vehicles worked, he also maintained the water pumps and generators, but the work was easy, the rewards handsome, in normal circumstances it would be a good life, but this wasn’t normal circumstances, this was Underwood, ‘
One way in, no way out’
he told himself then he smiled and shivered at the same time.