The Citadel and the Wolves (25 page)

Dad carried Kim upstairs and put her to bed. She needed rest. I made her some warm milk, which she didn’t touch. I stayed with her for awhile. She stared blankly at the ceiling.

I started to blame myself. I should have kept an eye on them. Kids are adventurous. They like to explore the world around them. They are unaware of its dangers. If I’d noticed the open gates earlier before it was too late…Strangely, I couldn’t blame Mark Taylor for what had happened. We all got careless…daddy too.

When Kim finally fell asleep, I stirred and kissed her cheek.

“I’ll find them, Kim,” I promised. “I’ll find them.”

We discussed the family crisis in the kitchen. Wendy was tearful, sitting next to Mark Taylor at the table, holding hands, comforting each other. He continued to blame himself. Mother looked strained, and daddy was grim-faced.

“Dad, why would the Roamers kidnap innocent children?” I asked, following it up straightaway with a second question, “What could they possibly hope to gain by it?”

“They want something from us, Jade,” replied daddy in a quiet voice.

His calmness in the situation stopped the panic from rising in me because I didn’t want to lose it right then.

I was puzzled. “But what do we have?”

Before dad could answer that question, we heard someone calling out in the street outside.

We ran out. I grabbed my rifle.

The other stood in the middle of the road near the big gates where we confronted him. I found myself standing behind daddy. The other had come alone, surprising me. He was a tall, hard-faced, scruffy youth with lank hair and narrow eyes, which were set deep in his skull, and a long, vivid scar ran down his left cheek. He also wore an old, frayed, army greatcoat, puzzling me. He was
a Roamer
nevertheless.

“Who are you?” asked father in a firm voice, without betraying his own emotions.

He spat in the road before he answered, “Sykes.”

Sykes, I thought.

“Where are the children, Sykes?” asked father in a more demanding voice.

“The brats are safe…for the time being,” he sneered coldly.

“What do you want?” quizzed father.

“You people live in a big, fancy house with a high wall, protecting what you’ve got while we’re out here starving. We want some of your food, Mister.”

“How much?”

“Whatever you think the brats are worth, Mister.”

I was almost tempted to shoot him right there and then. I didn’t. I quickly reminded myself that he had the kids.

“If I don’t return in one hour, the brats get it,” he warned darkly. “I get the food; you get the brats back unharmed.”

“You’ll get your food, Sykes.” Father was shaking. He was white with rage. He wanted to kill Sykes too with his bare hands. But he was powerless to do anything.

Sykes sniggered, “I knew I could do business with you, Mister.”

I saw it in his eyes. He was cold and totally ruthless. I didn’t believe him for one second, but we had no choice. We had to give him the food from our winter stores.

We loaded food onto a barrow and took it out to Sykes who was still waiting in the street. He seemed satisfied with it.

“The children?” asked mother anxiously.

“You get the brats back as soon as I return with the food, Missus,” answered Sykes with a cold smile on his face.

Liar! I thought.

He pushed the barrow down the street without looking back, for he knew that we wouldn’t shoot him down like a dog while he still held the kids.

While the others played a waiting game, hoping and praying that Sykes would keep his word, I had something else in mind. I was desperate. I had to act. This had become a house filled with despair.

When Wendy and Mark slyly vanished upstairs later, I followed them. I caught them on the landing.

“Jade, what is it?” asked Wendy peevishly.

“Sis, I’d like a word with Mark alone,” I answered.

Wendy looked puzzled. “Jade?”

“I’ll explain everything to Mark, Sis.”

“See you in a minute, sweetie,” said Wendy.

She kissed his cheek. She glared at me briefly before she disappeared into her room.

I spoke, “You know Sykes won’t keep his word now that he has got his food, don’t you, Mark?”

He looked worried. “Jade, are you planning something crazy?”

“It’s our only chance of getting the kids back, and I need your help, Mark,” I said, remaining calm inside because I knew what I had to do.

“But how can I help you, Jade?”

“Mark, you were on the outside for sometime, hiding from the Roamers with your sister, so you must have a pretty good idea where their camps are.”

It dawned on him. “Christ, Jade.”

“If we don’t act fast, Mark, we’ll never see the kids again,” I said bluntly.

He murmured.

“And wear some dark clothes.”

I checked on Kim. She was still sleeping. The blankets had slipped. I covered her.

“I’m doing this for both of us, Kim,” I said, knowing that she didn’t hear me. “They won’t win.”

After I’d changed into dark clothing, I put some cartridges into my pocket and took my rifle. I was deadly serious this time. It was no longer a game. Lives were at stake here.

I met Mark Taylor on the landing. He wore a heavy black coat, jeans and boots. He looked mildly horrified when I opened the tin of black boot polish.

My parents were in the kitchen as the reluctant Mark Taylor and I quietly slipped out of the front door.

We were on foot. Taking out the Land-Rover would have been far too risky. They’d hear us coming from many kilometres away. Stealth was of the essence. Our footsteps made no sound in the recently fallen virgin snow. Darkness fell quickly. The starless night sky remained heavy with snow.

Their flickering campfires on the old railway sidings acted like beacons in the night. We remained out of sight on the top of the embankment. We had found them. But was this the right camp? I took out father’s night vision binoculars, scanning their camp below. I was searching for Sykes. I couldn’t see him amongst the ragged people, disappointing me.

“Mark, this may not be the camp where they are holding the kids,” I whispered.

“I didn’t say it was, Jade,” admitted Mark, shivering in the cold night air despite his heavy clothing. “It’s one of the camps that I know.”

A tall figure came into view, striding across the sprawling camp. I couldn’t see his face clearly in the dark. He wore an army greatcoat. He stopped to talk with a group of other ragged people by a large campfire. He was handing out something to them. Was it our food? It was he. It was Sykes. My heart missed a beat. We had found them.

“Sykes is down there, Mark,” I revealed. “But where is he holding the kids?”

“The railway arches?”

Using the cover of the trees on the embankment, Mark Taylor and I edged our way down to the railway arches, which were on the perimeter of the camp. The arches were disused railway workshops. We looked through the broken windows. The first one we checked was dark and empty. The second wasn’t. A burning oil lamp stood on a table where a young girl was eating. She wore rags, and her blonde hair was matted and filthy. It was gloomy. We couldn’t see much through the broken window. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end when I heard a young child crying. We had found them. Tommy and Jenny were huddled together in the corner, dirty, frightened and alone.

“Shut up, you brat,” snarled the young girl. She threw a piece of food at the young children.

The ragged girl turned around startled when she heard something behind her. Mark Taylor and I stood in the door. Her face twitched nervously when she saw my rifle pointing at her head.

“Make a sound and you’re dead,” I warned coldly.

She glared at me sullenly, but she knew that I meant it, and she behaved herself.

“Mark, get the kids,” I ordered.

When Tommy and Jenny first saw us, they looked uncertain and a little scared. Then I grinned. Tommy saw through the boot polish on my face.

“Fade?”

I chuckled.

He ran into my arms. We hugged each other gratefully.

Mark picked up Jenny who clung to his neck.

“Let’s get out of here, Jade, before-”

“What the hell is going on here?”

VENUS PEBBLES!!!

It was our turn to be startled when Sykes interrupted us. Tommy, who was suddenly afraid again, hid behind me. Jenny began to whimper.

Sykes glowered at the young girl.

“They-They surprised me, Sykes.”

“Stupid bitch.”

“We’re taking the children, Sykes,” I said calmly, though the slight quiver in my voice betrayed me. “You got your food.” After my initial shock, I was determined to remain in control of the situation.

Sykes pulled a knife. “You ain’t going nowhere with the brats, whore.”

He made a move towards me with the same cold smile on his face. I was barely conscious of my finger squeezing the trigger. I felt a slight thump in my right shoulder as the rifle cracked once. Sykes wore a quizzical expression on his face as blood pumped out of a large hole in his chest. His eyes rolled. He took one more step forward before he sank to the floor and lay still.

“Sykes is dead, Jade,” gasped Mark who looked appalled. “You’ve killed him!”

The reality of what I’d done didn’t sink in till much later. I’d killed another human being. I’d no choice. It was either him or me. I was the man with the tin star on the dusty main street. I was the law in this town.

The young girl was shaking with fear. “D-Don’t kill me. I don’t want to die.”

I ignored her, peering through a gap in the door. I half-expected to see hordes of angry, ragged people rushing towards the railway arches. They weren’t. They had other things on their minds, staying alive through the freezing winter.

After we had locked the young girl in a cupboard, we fled into the black night with the children.

When we arrived back home at
The Citadel
at 10 Crown Dale Close
, it began to snow again. The little children were safe once more.

After putting a very tired Tommy to bed, I quietly opened my bedroom door. Jenny, who was exhausted, had fallen asleep on my shoulder. I laid Jenny beside Kim, who slept. She smiled in her sleep, wrapping her arms around Jenny protectively. I’d kept my promise to her.

I’d killed another human being. I felt no remorse. No guilt. I’d taken a life to protect those whom I love. I knew that I would have to kill again.

14. DEATH IN THE SNOW

Things were bad.

I lay awake beneath three thick blankets.

The freezing winter had tightened its grip on the whole country, perhaps the world. I was unsurprised. Could it get any worse? It probably would. Fierce blizzards swept the country, hitting London and the other major cities. They were the worst in living memory. Father, the scientist, chemist and engineer, blamed it on the comet. It’s the dawn of a new ice age as far as I’m concerned. Father disagreed with me on that point. If there’s still snow and ice on the ground in July, then I’ll be proved right, and daddy would have to agree with me then. We didn’t have an argument over it. It was a friendly discussion at breakfast. Wendy called it an argument. She would.

I was trying to think of something. It was something I’d forgotten. I’m sure it would come back to me in time.

It’s freezing in my room first thing in the mornings now because father has barred fires in our rooms except the nursery. Jenny shares with Tommy. We moved her cot in there. I think they’re in love! Daddy barred fires in the rooms owing to the firewood shortage. It’s getting serious. It’s getting desperate. We haven’t been able to get out to the woods for some weeks. The blizzards haven’t helped, but nature isn’t our only problem at the moment, manmade machines are too. The Land-Rover has been out for awhile. The engine cylinders are cracked, and till dad can cannibalise some suitable parts, we’re without our vital lifeline. The generator has been giving us some problems too. It breaks down at least twice a week. Dad does his best to repair it before it goes on the blink yet again. We have to rely more and more on our storage batteries during the day, but we still need the generator to charge them every morning. Worse, we’re also running short of fuel for the generator, so all is not well in
Our Citadel.
We’re at a crisis point. Father has called an emergency family conference at breakfast. I’m worried. Is it all falling apart?

I glared at the shuttered window when I heard the howling winds outside. ‘Leave us alone,’ I hissed, ‘go away.’ The blizzards have raged for almost four weeks. There are some lulls, though they don’t usually last very long. I’ve been studying their peculiar behavioural patterns, and I’ve noticed something rather odd about them, almost unnatural. They seem to move around in wide circles. We get lulls when the circle or the eye of the storm is furthest from us, dumping on some other unfortunate souls elsewhere. When I pointed out this phenomenon to daddy, he didn’t dismiss it entirely out of hand.

I cheered myself up thinking of pleasant things. Christmas is almost upon us once more. But how will we celebrate it this year? A frozen bird is out of the question. I’ll miss the last minute rush to the shops, not. Despite everything, we’re determined to celebrate it. One of our fattened chickens has already been chosen for the Christmas dinner.

I slipped deeper under the covers, bumping into Kim there. She murmured in her sleep. She didn’t wake.

“Wake up, lazy-bones.”

She ignored me, so I lightly scratched her nose. She frowned in her sleep, brushing it away.

I smiled. “We’ve got to get up soon, lazy-bones.”

Kim finally opened her eyes after some further coaxing by me. I stroked her face.

“But, Jade, it’s still the middle of the night,” she complained sleepily.

“Morning.”

“But how can you tell?”

“I looked at my watch.”

She pouted. “Jade, do we have to get up so early? I want to stay in bed under the blankets where it’s nice and warm with you.”

She drew closer to me, nuzzling my neck affectionately.

“Kim, I-”

She grinned. “Jade, you could always pretend you’re sick or something, and we could spend the whole morning in bed together. It’d be glorious. We could pretend that we’re the only two people left alive on the entire planet. Wouldn’t it be great?”