Reapers Mist: Third in the Reaper Trilogy by Justin Gowland (11 page)

Maddie’s voice brought me out of my slump, “Jay, I asked if you wanted to go see your brother?”

“Sorry, I didn’t hear you. What about us?” I asked.

“Oh don’t worry you can make it up to me later on!” She said smiling.

(Better make sure I still had some condoms. I might be about to become an uncle but I didn't want to become a dad yet. So shoot me.)

She walked across to where I was stood and kissed me gently on the lips and left the room.

Picking up my rifle and webbing I carried them into the bedroom and set them down at the end of the bed. Going through my gear I grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt. I got changed and slung my rifle on my shoulder but left the webbing in the bedroom and went looking for Marc. I found him on the wall looking at the boat bobbing around on the sea.

“Congrats buddy.” I said as I walked toward him.

He looked up at me and smiled, “Thanks.”

“You ok? You don’t really seem that happy about it.”

“Nah, I am happy it’s just that I wish it had happened at a different time that’s all.”

“Marc, if truth be told mate no time is a good time. It means we have to settle down and put our family needs well before our own. Becoming a dad no matter when is difficult for any man. So how are you and Becky taking the news?”

“Well to tell you the truth we are still a little shocked. I mean she is taking it a lot easier than I am.”

I felt sorry for him out of the two of us we had always thought I would be the one to settle down first. Now that this had happened it meant that he had to grow up and I think those thoughts were hard for him.

“Hey you know I will be here to support you buddy.” I said.

“Yeah if you don’t get scared and do a runner again.” He said looking back out at the sea.

“Ok, I deserve that and yeah I should have been here last night. I promise that from now on I will be here for you and your new family. That is if you want me to help out?”

“Well to be honest Becky and I will need someone to babysit when we want to go out partying.” He said turning to look at me with a daft grin on his face.

I grabbed him and pulled him into a hug.

“You tit!” I said laughing.

With that we both turned to look out over the wall at the sea and the boat rolling on the waves.

Hearing footsteps I turned to see Rees walking toward us.

“I gather you finally found out about the soon to be rug rat?” He said.

At the same time Marc and I said, “Fuck you Rees!”

We all started laughing. It had been awhile since all three of us had something to look forward too and laugh at. I turned and resumed watching the boat when Rees said something I wasn’t prepared for.

“You do realize that with having babies things are going to have to change again. We are going to have to make sure that the Reapers can never follow us here don’t you?” He said.

“I hadn’t thought about it but I suppose it makes sense.” I said without turning.

“What do you mean?” Marc said.

“Ask Walker what I mean!” Rees replied.

I never though about it till Rees said those words and an icy feeling settled in my stomach and started to spread.

“What’s he going on about Jay?” Marc asked.

I turned and looked at him and said “Ok try not to lose your temper ok? You know the visions that I am having?”

“Yeah?”

“Well up till now I have not seen one child under the age of six and defiantly no babies.”

“Oh shit!” He said.

“It might be a good idea that we don’t let Becky or the other women know about this. The only reason I remember that little nugget is that you tend to tell me about every vision you have.” Rees said.

Marc had sagged down to the floor and had his head in his hands and was shaking.

“Marc just because I didn’t see them didn’t mean that weren’t any of them.” I said.

Rees and I stood watching as Marc pulled himself back together and slowly stood.

“Rees is right we don’t tell any of the girls about this. The last thing we need is for Becky to get upset and have a miscarriage or something. I need to go and talk with Becky and I said I would help Jacob sort out a way to move hot water to the bath house. I’ll see you at dinner.” With that Marc turned and walked towards the steps down into the courtyard.

Rees and I stood watching him go down the steps.

“We’re going to have to start moving supplies to the fall back soon.” Rees said.

“What?” I asked.

“It might be a good idea that Marc and Becky go to look after the fall back. With Becky being pregnant the last thing she needs is stress.”

“I suppose it makes sense but the problem with that is Marc and Becky won’t be willing to go.”

“It doesn’t have to be right now it could be in a couple of weeks even a month or two. But in the end it will be the best for them and the rest of us.”

I nodded even though it would mean that my brother and his new family would be safe it would mean they would be by themselves.

I said as much to Rees and he said “Well we could always send the Derek and his family with them. That would still leave enough people to secure the castle if needed. Plus we would still have the boat in case we needed to make a quick getaway.”

“Ok let’s leave it for a few weeks and see what happens between now and then.” I said.

I walked away leaving Rees stood looking out at the sea.

The next few weeks went by quietly; nothing surprised us or changed very much inside the walls of the castle. (Well that might not be truthful every time Maddie and I had time she jumped me. Every time she thought I didn’t have a condom but I always had one hidden somewhere. Even when I was in shower and that one was a little painful where the sun don’t shine.)

Over the weeks Jacob and Rees had taken the boat to some of the houses on the coast that had solar panels and scavenged them for use on the castle roof and walls. He still hadn’t managed to figure out how to hook them up but with the fuel we had gotten we were ok for the time being. Derek had finished his training with a pistol and had moved on to the rifles. We had sent up some targets about a hundred feet from the walls and he was practicing from them. I had managed to talk Jacob into letting me show Chris how to use a pistol but didn’t want him to learn anything else just yet.

I was sitting in the café nursing a mug of tea when Jacob came running inside.

“Jay, Rees wants you out by the cars. We saw a Reaper in the village….” He said.

Before he could finish I was out my seat and running. I rushed through the castle and down the steps to the hard standing. Rees was leaning over the bonnet of the Land Rover with his rifle watching the edge of the village.

“How many have you seen?” I asked bringing the scope up on my rifle.

“Not too sure could be just the one but might be more. I can’t make out any differences from here.” He said.

“I told you to pick up a scope for rifle when we had the chance.” I said with a tight grin.

“Oh and spoil all your fun? Fuck you Walker!” He said laughing.

Looking at the village I slowly panned along the edge and saw a flash of movement on the left. Watching that edge I saw a Reaper head and shoulders look over a wall then disappear. Rees tapped me on the shoulder and when I looked up he pointed down the main street. Raising my rifle again I saw a couple of Reapers up near the chapel and one near the shop. Bugger that meant there were at least four of them in there with maybe more. Had they found me? Or was this just a scouting group out to find survivors?

“It looks like there are four in the village but there could be more. It seems funny that they are hiding and not coming any further forward.” I said.

We heard more running feet and I turned to see Becky, Marc, Maddie and Mary coming down the steps. I held my hand out and indicated that they needed to slow down. The last thing we would need is if someone fell and hurt themselves coming down those steps. Slowing down Becky was the first to get to us and Rees started to fill them in on what was happening as I continued to watch through the scope. The Reapers seemed to pop up have a quick look and then duck back into cover. All the time that we had to put up with them they had attacked as soon as they saw us. So what the hell was making them hang back from us?

I felt a light tap on my shoulder and turned to look at Becky and Maddie’s concerned faces.

“Why are they not attacking?” Becky asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe they are waiting for more Reapers to turn up. To be honest with you all I don’t know. We haven’t had to deal with any of them since we went to get the boat and fuel.” I said.

“You don’t think they have managed to find you?” Marc asked.

“Marc will you learn to keep your mouth shut!” Said Maddie looking like she was about to bitch slap him.

“Sorry, Jay I didn’t think.” He said.

“It’s ok I had already thought that.” I said.

Rees looked over at the village and asked “What we going to do? It’s not like we can have them on our doorstep is it?”

“The only thing I can think of is for us to go and clear them out. Rees if you, Mary and Becky take the right side of the village. Then Marc, Maddie and I can take the left. Now the good news is that the nearly all the houses are still locked tight. The only things we need to look out for are the alleyways and the sheds and outside loos. We slowly move from cover to cover and meet up at the green just past the chapel. I have my radio and Rees has the other. We should only need to use them if things get out of control. Are there any questions?”

“Why have you split me and Becky up?” Marc asked.

“The reason is because we need to split the rifles but still have a shotgun on each team.” Rees said.

Mary’s soft voice said “Look I’ll swap with Marc that way we still have the same layout.”

“Are you sure babe?” Rees asked.

“Yes I know Jay will look after me and if it makes Marc feel better this way then so be it.” She said.

“Ok now that we have that sorted we should move into position. Remember the radio is only to be used in an emergency. We take our time and take it slow don’t rush because if we rush something is going to happen and someone will get hurt.” I said.

With that being said we spread into our two groups and headed to the starting point. I looked a Rees and nodded to tell him that I would look after Mary and he smiled to say thanks. When we got into place the sand dunes managed to cut our view of Rees’ group. I pressed the talk button on the radio once to let Rees know we were ready to move. Getting a squelch of static back told me that Rees and his group had started to move off.

I took the lead with Mary in the middle and Maddie bringing up the rear. We had to cover about a hundred meters before we hit our side of the village. Slowly we came to the wall where I had seen the Reaper hiding behind and I quickly took a look over it. The Reaper had moved away from the wall, I could see where it had been standing the grass was crushed but there wasn’t any sign of the Reaper.

Chapter Fourteen

I moved to the end of the wall and slipped round into the garden Mary followed and Maddie stood at the wall whilst I tried the back door. It was still locked so the Reaper hadn’t managed to get inside. We had to move on and find them before they could get more on the island. Moving on to the next house we carefully checked and found the door locked and bolted. Where the fuck was these Reapers? We got halfway through the village by the time we saw one of them. She was hiding behind a large head stone in the chapels’ graveyard. I sat there looking over a fence at her with Mary sat beside me and Maddie watching our backs.

“What is it doing?” Mary asked.

“To be honest I haven’t got a clue. It’s like it wants to see what we do first. Saying that though I haven’t seen a Reaper yet that wouldn’t just attack straight away.”

“We are going to kill it though?”

“Yeah just need it to move out a little more.” I said raising my rifle.

As soon as my rifle cleared the fence the Reaper disappeared behind the gravestone.

“Shit! I don’t think it is going to make it easy for us. The other thing that worries me is that we haven’t seen the other ones yet.” I said.

We stood and Mary went to tell Maddie that we were moving on. Exiting the garden we moved past the last house and were about to enter the graveyard when we heard shots and shouting from the other side of the village. Standing still I waited to see if I would get a message on the radio asking for help but nothing came. So we moved on and into the graveyard slowly moving in between the gravestones and trees. I could see that the rear door to the chapel had been torn off its hinges. Those made me think back to when I found the bodies had the door been broken then or not? I couldn’t remember so we headed toward the broken door. We lined up against the wall with the open doorway in front of me and the door lying on the floor beside it. I could see that the hinges had been torn from the doorframe when the door had been pulled free it must have taken some strength to do that. That gave me the feeling that we had found the Reapers little hideout.