Savage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel (16 page)

“The final
stage of Samuel’s plan
hinged on rescuing people with a Royal Navy ship.  Three years ago, Black
Remedy managed to tie up a contract for four new destroyers to be built. 
That was when the plan went into motion.  Samuel needed a flagship for his
new nation and Black remedy were given the excuse to build it.  Captain
Raymeady would be the saviour of mankind, the new messiah.”

Damien stared at his friend in disbelief.  “This
is all the word of a madman.  His mind is as crippled as his back. 
How are you so gullible?”

“I believe him,” Harry said firmly.  “And in the
end, I hope that you do, too.  Just open your eyes, Damien.  Don’t
let Samuel hurt the people on that pier.  They’re innocent.”

Damien sighed.  “If Samuel is as maniacal as you
say, then you know I have no way of stopping him from doing whatever he wants.”

“I think you underestimate your own potential,
Damien.  I saw it the day I plucked you away from your life as a drug
dealer.  You’re a leader.  You have courage; and people follow
courage.”

Damien couldn’t think of anything further from the truth. 
“I’m no leader, nor do I ever want to be one.  I have one hand and a bad
attitude.  I’m the last person people would follow.”

“Some leaders don’t have to lead men and women, they
can lead by example.  Do the right thing, Damien, and people will follow
the path you leave them.
”

Damien had heard enough.  Harry was beginning to
sound more and more delusional.  The days ahead were not going to be
kind.  Last time, Harry’s brain tumour had sent him into an almost
constant state of mania.  Damien had almost lost his only friend back
then, but he had managed to get a second chance.  This time there would be
no reprieve. 

“I have to go,” Damien said.  “It’s time I faced
the music.  If Samuel grows horns, I promise I’ll kill him.”

“I
was wondering when you’d grace us
with your appearance,” said Frank when he saw Roman coming down the
passageway.  He’d received reports from petty officer Dunn shortly before
dawn that Roman was
back
onboard, but it had taken
until now for him to present himself.  There was much that could be read
into that.

 “Is Samuel in?” Roman asked with a hint of
sarcasm in his voice.  He knew very well that Samuel rarely left his
chambers.

“Samuel is always free to see
you
, Roman. 
Step inside.”

They entered the captain’s chambers and found Samuel
behind his desk as usual.  Frank stood close by, hoping that Roman would
bring his adopted son good news for once.

Samuel got right to the point.  “Is he dead?”

Roman shrugged.  “Who?”

Samuel’s eyes narrowed and his lower lip
trembled.  “The cripple, the man who tried to blow me up.  Is he
dead?  Was he at the pier?”

The man who tried to blow us
all
up,
Frank thought. 
I must remind Samuel that a
leader says ‘we’ not ‘I’.

“He was at the pier, yes,” said Roman.  “The
people there patched up his wounds and gave him a place to rest.  He was
up and about when I found him.”

“But you dealt with him, I take it?”

“No.  He’s still at the pier.  The people
there didn’t play ball.”

Samuel’s face creased.  For a moment it looked
like he might leap over his desk and throttle Roman.  Frank sighed with
relief when Samuel chose to remain calm.  “So...the cripple is alive
because of the people on this pier?”

Roman seemed to struggle for a moment.  His eyes
flittered back and forth and his mouth opened and closed, searching for
words.  “I…I wouldn’t necessarily blame them.  Tim told them a bunch
of wild stories.  He manipulated them into protecting him, but they didn’t
know any better.”

Sam’s expression darkened.  “Tim?  You use
the man’s name.  Did he manipulate
you
with his stories?  Pray
tell, what did he say?  Was it about me?  Some grand conspiracy, I’d
imagine.  I have heard it all before.  But the people on the pier,
they believe these stories about me?”

Frank watched Roman struggle again for words. 
He’s
trying to protect the people on the pier.  Why?

“The stories were nonsense,” Roman said.  “I paid
no notice, but he had longer to convince the people on the pier.”

“Why did you not take
Tim
by force?” Samuel
asked with venom.  “You had two men with you.  Two men who, might I
add, did not return with you last night.  Would you care to shed light on
their location?”

Roman swallowed and shifted uncomfortably.  He
was not his usual stoic self.  There was fear in him today, but Frank
doubted it was for himself.  Roman was a man who cared little for
self-preservation.  That was why Samuel had found him so useful.  A
man without fear is a rare weapon. 
But there’s fear in him
today.  He’s trying to hide something.

“Where are Fox and Birch?” Samuel asked.

“Dead,” said Roman.

Frank spluttered.  “Dead?  How?”

Samuel raised his hand for silence.  “I’ll handle
this, Frank.”  He turned his charcoal eyes back to Roman.  “Why are
they dead?  And who killed them?”

Roman cleared his throat.  “I-I killed
Birch.  He was out of control.  Fox tried to calm him down, but got a
knife in the chest for his efforts.  I did everything I could to restrain
Birch but he was wild.  He caused everything that happened.  I had to
kill him just to stop him from dishonouring the fleet more than he already
had.”

Sam leapt up from his chair and sent pens skittering
across the surface of his desk.  His usually pale skin went bright red in
an instant.  Frank took a step backwards.  “
You
killed
Birch?  You killed a member of the fleet?”

“Yes.  He gave me no choice.”  Roman’s
reckless disregard had returned to him and he looked ready for a fight. 
“As for the reason why, perhaps you should have warned me that Birch was a
goddamn sex offender.  They had a child at the pier and Birch tried to
abduct her in the night.  It was a right bleedin’ shambles.”

“Is that the truth?” asked Frank, taken aback and
feeling quite sick to his stomach.  “That is…unfortunate.” 
The
men and women of this fleet devolve by the day.  Samuel’s already had to
deal with a dozen rapes, thefts, and beatings, and more and more happen each
day.  Sometimes I think people left their humanity back on land.

Roman glanced at Frank.  “Yeah, no shit. 
When the people on the pier caught Birch, they were damn near ready to lynch
all three of us.  Rather than beg forgiveness, the moron tried to stab the
little girl right in front of everybody.  I had no choice but to put him
down.  Fox ended up being collateral damage when he tried to help me take
Birch down.  In the end I had to get out of there while I could. 
Things went bad, but the people on the pier were just defending
themselves.  It was Birch’s fault that things went so wrong.  The
cripple’s stories ended up holding so much weight because Birch played the role
of the bad guy so effectively.”

Frank had a feeling that wasn’t the entire truth
–
he’s hiding something
– but Samuel didn’t challenge what
had been said to him.  In fact, he seemed to have calmed down
completely.  Some of the crimson seeped away from his cheeks and he stood
up straight and loose, instead of hunched forward and confrontational.  He
placed his fingertips together in front of his face and let out a sigh. 
“If what you say is true, then I am at fault for not knowing my men
better.  These people on the pier, are they good people?”

Roman answered without pause, “Yes.  From what I
saw they were all good people.  They stick together and they look after
one another.  One of them must be pretty handy, because the cripple was
patched up and walking again after I left him half-dead.”

“But they protected him when you asked to take him
into custody?  This terrible man who tried to take hundreds of innocent
lives? “

Roman nodded.

“And in doing so,” Samuel continued.  “Two
members of the fleet were murdered and the mighty Roman was sent back to me
with his tail between his legs.”

Roman shifted on the spot.  “Yes, but-”

“Then the people on the pier are my enemies, and they
must be dealt with accordingly.”  Samuel turned to Frank.  “Frank,
tell the gunnery sergeant to fire on the pier.”

Frank spluttered.  “Sorry, Samuel?  You want
us to fire on them?”

“You heard me.  Fire on them.  If what Roman
says is true, then they’re harbouring a terrorist.  That makes them as
guilty as he is.”

“Wait a second,” Roman said.  “You don’t need to
do this.  I’ll meet with them again, explain the consequences if they
don’t hand Tim over.”

Samuel grimaced at the sound of the man’s name being
spoken once more.  Frank winced too because he knew the reaction it would
illicit.  Samuel glared at Roman.  “I would be very careful how you
conduct yourself, Roman.  You have failed me again, and if it is not the
fault of these other survivors, then it is yours.  Should I fire on them,
or should I fire on you?”

“Me,” Roman said without pause.  “Punish me, not
a bunch of innocent men and women.  They’re just trying to survive.”

“Well, they’re doing a pretty bad job of it, because
I’m about to destroy them.  Frank, I won’t ask you again.  Give the
order, and take this man out of my sight before my mood worsens further.”

Frank wavered.  He knew his son was quick to
temper, but there seemed to be zero doubt in Samuel’s command.  He wanted
the pier destroyed.  “I…Samuel, I think-”

Samuel gave him a look so harsh that it almost made Frank
want to weep.  It was a look no man wanted to receive from his son –
adopted or otherwise.  “Do not even think about arguing, Frank.  I am
the captain of this ship and I have given my command.  Now see it done.”

Frank nodded.

Roman was standing in front of Sam’s desk and staring
in disbelief, but Frank could see that his initial shock was rapidly giving way
to anger.  Frank grabbed Roman and took him away before he did anything
stupid.  Outside, in the corridor, he had to restrain the younger man from
rushing back inside and confronting Samuel.  “Let go of me,” he
shouted.  “He can’t do this.  It’s wrong.”

“It’s war,” Frank told him resignedly.  It wasn’t
the first act of wanton aggression he’d witnessed in his lifetime.  His
younger days in the army had been filled with a callous disregard for human
life. 
I just hoped Samuel would be better than that.

Roman looked at Frank like he was an idiot. 
“War?  What war?”

“The war of survival.  In a harsh world, harsh
methods are needed.  If people doubt Samuel’s temerity, there’ll be
chaos.  Trust me, I served enough years as a soldier to understand
that.  I saw weak-willed captains shot in the back by their own men a
dozen times over.  In times of peace, mercy rules, but in times of war,
mercy weakens.”

Roman was shaking his head.  He didn’t buy
it.  “So a bunch of innocent people have to die, just so Samuel can be
seen to have a big pair of balls?  This is wrong.  I’m going to stop
it.”

“Like you stopped Birch and Fox?”

Roman paused in the midst of his anger and stared at
Frank.  “What did you say?”

Frank folded his arms and huffed.  “I don’t buy
the lynch mob story.  Birch might have been a thug, but he could handle
himself.  Fox was as amiable as they come.  I can see the people on
the pier attacking Birch, but I don’t see Fox getting involved the way you tell
it.  I think there’s more to it than you’re letting on.”

“You’re talking bollocks.”

“Perhaps, but I’ve spent enough time around Samuel to
learn how to read people well enough.  If I can see through your lies,
then I guarantee he will, too.  If I was you, Roman, I would lie low and
let the situation sort itself out.”

“I can’t just let him fire on those people. 
They’re innocent.  I have to stop it.”

“You can’t and you won’t.  You don’t give the
orders around here, Samuel does, and the men aboard this boat love him. 
You act against him and you’ll be killed.  You can’t do anything to help
those people, so just focus on the next group we find that might be worth
saving.”

Roman shook his head, but the defiance had not yet
left him.  He held onto it like a loved one.  “You give that order to
fire, Frank, and you’re as guilty as Samuel.  I hope that dead little girl
fucking haunts you in your dreams.”  Roman shook his head one last time
and then walked away, shoving aside a startled engineer who had the misfortune
to be standing in his way.

Frank shook his head and sighed.  
Why is
everybody so eager to rule from
their
pulpits? 
My son is doing his very best, but survival of the human race is no easy
task.  It’s a war for our very existence and harsh decisions must be
made.  Only great men can make the tough decisions.  Samuel is a
great man and people resent him for it, but they do not see that he is still a
young man.  He needs guidance…whether he asks for it or not.

Roman is right.  I cannot be party to this. 
Samuel will thank me in the end.

Frank sighed, took a deep breath, and then went to
give the firing orders to the
Kirkland
’s gunnery sergeant.  When he
got there, he made sure to tell the man to ‘miss’.