The Citadel and the Wolves (23 page)

I looked up from my diary when I heard something outside my door, puzzling me. I shut my diary and laid my pen on it. I carefully put them away into the drawer by my bed. I rose silently after a moment, taking the rifle down from the top of the wardrobe. I slipped some cartridges into my dressing gown pocket before I cautiously opened my bedroom door.

Glancing up at the attic, I stepped across the landing with my rifle under my arm. When I looked over the banisters, I heard a noise downstairs.

I crept down the stairs. I hesitated when I noticed a light coming from the kitchen. Someone was moving about in there. The door was ajar. I was unafraid. I was curious. I peered through the gap.

Mark Taylor, who had dressed, opened the refrigerator and took out the fresh milk in the large, plastic container. He uncapped it and filled a bottle on the table, spilling a little. He wiped the spill with a cloth before he returned the milk to the refrigerator. He closed the plastic bottle. He took it with him. As he picked up an oil lamp, he unlocked the back door. He stepped outside, carefully closing the back door behind him.

I waited a moment or two, throwing on my old anorak and boots, before I followed Mark Taylor. I remained a little baffled. What was he up to?

I glanced at the black, starless night, frowning. The outhouse door was wide open. I saw a light moving inside the outhouse window. He was being too bloody obvious.

Mark Taylor stood the oil lamp on the floor. He looked around slyly before he put some potatoes and other vegetables from our winter stores into a sack. He added a few apples. He then slipped the bottle of milk in with the rest of the stuff before he tied the sack with a length of rope. I’d seen enough.

“Caught in the act.”

He twisted around startled.

“You stinking thief,” I spat viciously. “I should shoot you right between the eyes right now.”

“J-Jade?”

He looked aghast when I pointed my rifle at his head.

“What do you have to say for yourself before I shoot you, thief?”

“L-Let me explain, Jade,” he spluttered as the colour drained from his cheeks.

“Explanations aren’t necessary, thief,” I snarled furiously. “We saved your neck from the Roamers, gave you shelter and food, and this is how you repay my father’s kindness; you steal our food. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t shoot you?”

“P-Please, Jade.”

I curled my finger around the trigger.

Father and the others appeared at that point in winter coats over their dressing gowns and boots, spoiling things again when I’m having fun. Wendy wore a confused expression on her face.

“Father, Mark Taylor is a common thief,” I said angrily. “We should shoot him.”

Daddy frowned. “That’s enough, Jade.”

I sighed and lowered my rifle. The other, who looked as if he would be sick, puffed out his white cheeks with relief.

Father took the rifle and checked it. “Unloaded?” He shook his head.

I giggled nervously.

“I think you owe us an explanation, Mark,” demanded father sternly.

“I-I wasn’t stealing the food for me, Sir. I feel bad enough as it is doing this to you, but you see, I was desperate, and I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Who was the food for, Mark?” asked mum in a quiet voice.

But I could tell by her eyes that she felt betrayed nevertheless. We all were, including Wendy, who once loved him but not anymore.

“My sister Kim and her little girl Jenny,” answered Mark Taylor.

Kim! I thought astonished.

Mark Taylor told his story: “Kim and her little girl have been living in an abandoned house not far from here. When my sister’s boyfriend was killed in the Oxford food riots, she and Jenny came down to London with me. We hid in the house for some days to avoid the Roamers and the other street gangs. We were getting desperate, and I had to take a risk, so I went out to find food. It was a mistake, a foolish thing to do. The Roamers found me first. Luckily you came along when you did.”

Mum looked concerned. “Mark, where are they now?”

“They wait outside,” revealed Mark Taylor. “I usually pass the food over the gate to them.”

Daddy opened the big, heavy gates. A young, pretty, dark-haired girl, who looked scared, stood outside. A little girl with huge, black eyes hid behind her. Although they wore heavy coats, they were shivering with the cold or fear, or both. I’d seen them before in a photograph when I’d drawn the wrong conclusions. They were both older now.

Mark Taylor stepped outside and spoke with his sister, reassuring her. He gently coaxed her and the small girl inside after a moment or two, although they remained wary of us.

Daddy closed the big, heavy gates behind them. We all went inside out of the cold.

When I saw Kim, Mark Taylor’s sister, in the hallway light, I thought that she looked very young. She couldn’t have been more than seventeen, yet Jenny was at least four years old. They seemed fascinated by the electric light.

Wendy dashed upstairs and brought down some blankets while mother made some hot drinks and warmed up some milk for Jenny in the kitchen. Yes, we all wanted to help.

We sat together in the living room while daddy stoked up the dying fire, throwing some logs on it. It spluttered into life after a moment or two, giving us instant warmth.

Mark Taylor still had some more explaining to do. He wasn’t entirely off the hook yet.

“Mark, why didn’t you tell us about your sister and her little girl earlier?” quizzed mum sternly.

A very good question, I thought.

“I was afraid of what you might say, Mrs Robinson,” replied Mark Taylor limply. “We didn’t want to impose.”

“Nonsense.”

Daddy’s eyes darkened. “Stealing food was the wrong way, Son.”

“I know, Sir,” admitted Mark Taylor feebly. He was unable to meet father’s eyes.

Although I’d forgiven Mark Taylor now that I knew the truth, I was still angry with him.

Daddy stirred. “But we mustn’t dwell on the recent past. We’ve got to sort out some sleeping arrangements for your sister and her little girl.”

“Kim and Jenny can sleep in my room,” I offered, surprising the others and myself.

Kim smiled at me weakly.

“Well, that’s settled then,” said father, rubbing his hands, when he had recovered from the shock.

While father stoked up the boiler downstairs, I ran a hot bath upstairs for Kim and Jenny. When Kim slipped off her clothes, I was mildly shocked by her appearance. She was very thin and in need of lots of nourishment; whereas, Jenny, who was a little plump, had pink, healthy-looking skin. The milk and food had obviously been for Kim’s young daughter. There was a certain vulnerability about Kim. She was like a fragile china doll, and I resisted the temptation to take her into my arms and hold her tightly for a long moment for fear of breaking her. She was in need of some TLC. When Kim caught me, she lowered her eyes shyly.

I stayed and shampooed Kim’s dirty, matted hair. Jenny splashed the water excitedly getting me all wet. It had been a long time for both of them.

Kim spoke, “You’ve got power here, Jade. That surprised me.”

“We salvaged an old generator,” I explained. “We’re rather good at that sort of thing now.” I laughed. “Today your brother discovered an old well at the bottom of our garden, so we’ve also got our own water supplies.”

“Hot water?”

“Coke boiler which burns wood. My father fitted it in after we lost the gas. He’s a scientist,” I said proudly.

“Oh?”

“He was the first person to predict that a large comet would hit the earth, but no one took him very seriously then till it was too late,” I revealed. I was no longer bitter with the rest of the world. It was unimportant. You cannot undo what has been done.

After the bath, I wrapped a large towel around them both, giving them a little reassuring hug that lasted longer than a moment.

I lent Kim my old pyjamas. Tommy gave Jenny his old pyjamas which fitted her almost perfectly.

Another surprise awaited Kim and Jenny downstairs. Their eyes almost popped out of their heads when they saw the spread that mum and Wendy had laid out for them as I guided them into the kitchen. We sat them down and let them tuck in. Kim stopped eating after a moment or two, puzzling me. Large tears started to roll down her cheeks.

We erected Tommy’s old cot in my room for Jenny. She fell asleep almost immediately Kim laid her in the cot. She was suddenly very safe. She was tired and exhausted. We covered her.

“She doesn’t normally get off to sleep for hours, crying the whole time,” said Kim. “When she did finally get off to sleep, it didn’t last long. She woke screaming. She had nightmares. I was terrified that some passing Roamers might hear her.” Her eyes were haunted briefly by the memories of a recent time.

“She knows that she’s safe here, Kim. The demons of the night are outside this citadel. They can’t pass through these walls.”

“No.”

We slipped under the covers in our pyjamas.

“I usually leave the night light on, Kim.”

She smiled. “Good idea, Jade.”

I fondly brushed some strands of hair away from her eyes.

I probed, “Kim, how old are you?”

“Seventeen, Jade.”

I was right.

“He was older than me. We met in a food queue as you do nowadays. It was too dangerous to go out at night, or even in the day, so we stayed in most nights and days.” Her eyes glistened. “I loved him.”

I drew her closer to me. She needed lots of reassurance.

The dark suddenly lifted from her eyes. “But, Jade, I’m still feeling a bit dizzy. A short while ago, I was outside and scared. In fact, I was so scared that I was almost terrified, but now, I’m inside your citadel with you kind people, you really, really kind people, so kind, so very kind. I thought the whole world had-had gone crazy. No one cared what happened to me and Jenny, my dear brother excepting. I was wrong. There are still some people who do care. You do care. You care a lot. You care more than a lot.”

I playfully put my hand over her mouth to shut her up, gagging her. She was a chatterbox. We laughed softly beneath the blankets for fear of waking the other.

We lapsed into silence.

Our family has grown since the coming of the comet. First we were five, then six, and now eight. I called the others family too. Perhaps that’s the way I feel. It’s nice though. I don’t feel so lonely now since Wendy had returned to her own room.

I was falling down a dark tunnel…

“Jade, what was that?” Kim whispered wide-eyed.

“This old house,” I replied sleepily. “It makes funny noises in the middle of the night.”

She looked worried. “It’s not haunted, is it, Jade?”

“No, Kim,” I answered reassuringly. “Now go to sleep. We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

When a floorboard creaked on the landing, Kim jumped, hiding behind my shoulder.

“Jade, was that a ghost?”

I laughed softly because the thought was an amusing one.

I was starting to drift off again. I was tired. I admitted it. She blew into my ear.

I sighed. “What now?”

“Jenny and me love you, Jade,” declared Kim with a smile.

She had already decided, and there was nothing that I could do about it.

Morning.

I gazed at the ceiling, pulling its misty dreams into my head. Mother and father were up early as usual. I heard them downstairs. They were probably planning our chores for the coming day, check barbed wire on top of wall for dead sparrows and other garden birds etc. etc. I turned my head and stared at Kim Taylor. She lay beside me in my big bed curled up in a ball, reminding me of a frightened woodland animal who was safe in her deep burrow. I stroked her untidy hair tenderly. I was in no particular hurry to make a move today. Mark Taylor could remove the dead sparrows and other garden birds from the electrified barbed wire on top of the wall…after daddy had turned off the current, of course. I let the dark, evil thought slip into my mind briefly. I looked over at Jenny’s cot. It was empty. It was empty!

I needn’t have worried. Jenny wasn’t far. I found her in Tommy’s room. He had taken out all of his toys. They were playing together. I watched them for some moments amused.

When I returned to my room, Kim was up. She had opened the shutters, gazing out of the window.

“I found Jenny,” I announced cheerfully. “She’s with Tommy. They’re playing with his toys.”

“Jade, how’s Tommy taking to Jenny?” wondered Kim.

“Although they’ve only just met, I think it could be the start of something big,” I answered.

“Oh?”

“I caught them holding hands.”

We laughed.

I sat on the bed, studying her elfin face curiously. She looked younger than seventeen. She had Jenny when she was in her early teens…or younger. She would have still been at school then.

“Kim, what are you looking at?” I asked after awhile.

“I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t all some kind of cruel dream, so I opened the shutters.”

“Verdict?”

She smiled. “It isn’t. You’re real. Everybody else is real. I’m really here in 10, Crown Dale Close, Jade.”

“It’s a calm oasis here in our citadel in a world gone mad. The nightmare is outside beyond those four walls that keep us safe, Kim; however, we’re not wholly self-sufficient here. We do have to make the occasional trip out for the things that we need. But we never go out unprotected.”

I took the rifle down from the top of the wardrobe and showed it to her.

She looked impressed. “Have you ever had to use it, Jade?”

I shook my head.

“Would you?”

“Yes.”

She shivered. “I don’t think I could ever shoot someone, Jade.”

I put the rifle back. “Don’t worry, Kim, it will probably never come to that.”

We walked to the door.

“Jade, I’ve got a confession to make,” admitted Kim.

“Confession?”

“I used to watch you and the others making trips out as I hid in the empty house.”

“Why didn’t you come out, Kim?”

“I couldn’t. I was too scared.”

I gave her a little, reassuring cuddle. I seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.