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  SAFE HAVEN:

  REAP OF THE RIGHTEOUS

  BY

  CHRISTOPHER ARTINIAN

  Published by Headless RAM Publishing

  COPYRIGHT © 2018

  CHRISTOPHER ARTINIAN

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  DEDICATION

  To all those who fall but refuse to stay down. To all those who stand when the tyrannical demand you kneel. The greatest weapon is the will to do anything for the ones you love.

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  A Note from the Author

  Christopher Artinian

  CHAPTER ONE

  The sea mist engulfed the small motorised dinghy as it chugged across the still morning water. Samantha Fletcher, Sammy to all who knew her, sat at the back of the boat with tears streaming down her face. They had been ever since she was given her instructions and set adrift fifteen minutes earlier. For a girl of eight, she had an old head on her shoulders, but with the sound of gunfire and explosions behind her and the frightening realms of the unknown ahead, all she could do was act her age.

  She had been out in the dinghy a number of times with Mike, and he had taught her how to start and stop the motor as well as steer, but she had never been out in fog. She hated crying, she hated the part of her that was still a frightened little girl, and at this precise moment in time, there were more reasons to cry than not. She switched off the motor and crawled over to where her older brother lay. Sammy shook him.

  "Wake up Mike," she begged. When he didn't, she draped her arm across his chest, nestled her head into his shoulder, and sobbed herself to sleep.

  ***

  The dark interior of the lorry smelt like rotting meat. The women huddled together in small frightened groups, crying, begging for mercy to unhearing gods. The only light came from holes in the siding caused by stray bullets. Lucy and Emma had been through a lot together. They had developed a sisterly bond during their journey from Leeds to the northwest of Scotland, and not just because Lucy and Mike, Emma's younger brother had fallen in love. The terrors they had fought, they had fought together. The horrors they had seen, they had seen together. The losses were mourned and the victories were shared, and now they were like blood. They sat shoulder to shoulder in a corner of the lorry. They had been joined by Beth, another survivor from Leeds and Sarah, a teacher at a deaf school who had befriended them.

  "Where are Annie and John?" Emma whispered to Beth as the lorry juddered over another pothole in the road.

  "Sarah and I hid them, her kids and a few others with the librarians under the stage in the village hall. I'm hoping they didn't find them, but we were rounded up pretty soon afterwards."

  "Why didn't you stay with them?"

  "Because we knew you wouldn't run and hide. We knew you'd need help." She paused. "Where are Mike, Sammy, and Jake?"

  "Jake ran off. We don't know where he is. Sammy and Mike are on a boat heading across to one of the small islands," said Emma, the whisper hiding the fact that her voice was breaking with sorrow.

  After a long pause, Beth asked, "How did you get Mike to agree to that?"

  This time it was Lucy who spoke, but not to Beth. "That look on his face. I can't get it out of my head. That look of betrayal."

  Emma took hold of her hand. "He'd be dead now if it wasn't for you, Lucy."

  Lucy turned her head towards Emma, her look was distant. "What if that was the last time I ever see him? What if the final memory he has of me is betraying him?"

  "What happened?" asked Beth.

  When Lucy didn't speak, Emma replied, "We had to drug him. He wanted to fight. He wanted to..."

  "But there are hundreds of them," replied Sarah this time.

  "You haven't really seen Mike when his back's against the wall, but he... He becomes...emotional."

  "It was the right thing to do," Beth reassured the pair of them. "He'd have been killed in seconds. These men are merciless. I saw one of them crack Calum Macdonald's head open with the butt of their rifle. He was nearly ninety for God's sake, he was no threat to them."

  The image of the old man floated like a ghost in front of them all as the drone of the engines took them nearer to their nightmarish future.

  ***

  Privates Hughes, Private Barnes, and Private Shaw were the only remaining survivors from the original squad of troops that had made the journey north from Candleton. Shaw had taken a stab at leadership, but wasn't up to the job. He had made an enemy of Mike and lost the respect of the rest of the group, but now he was fighting hard to prove himself to be a valuable asset. Hughes was the unofficial leader of the small group. He was the most experienced soldier and the voice of reason. It was because of this that Mike had asked him to help lead the expedition around the Inner Hebrides with Mike's gran, Sue, and Jenny, another Candleton survivor. She had been a successful hotel owner and business woman, and she was the obvious choice to help lead negotiations. Raj and Talikha, along with their Labrador Retriever, Humphrey had been instrumental in the group's escape. It was in their cruiser that they had travelled up the west coast. They were the ones who had brought the group to safety. Now, one a vet and one a veterinary nurse, they spent most of their time ferrying supplies using their newly acquired yacht. For the past few days, though, their cargo had mainly consisted of people.

  Even though it felt like something of a vacation after the turbulent times that had gone before, this small delegation was doing crucial work. They were setting up a trade route, they were re-establishing communication with islands that had thought themselves forgotten to the outside world, and more importantly, they were forging alliances. When they had first set foot on the small island of Jura at the beginning of their journey, it had been with trepidation. They had not known if the place had been overrun by RAMs or whether the people would be hostile and untrusting. Their fears had been misplaced though. The infection had not reached the island and the people were so grateful to hear news from the outside that representatives from Lonbaig were treated like heroes. Sue had brought small amounts of produce as samples of what could be traded, but she was given much more in return by grateful islanders. This was the beginning of something new, something strong, something powerful. The old world was gone, but what was being forged now was something elemental and pure.

  It was something hopeful.

  As the seven of them sat around the breakfast table relishing the bounty that Talikha had prepared, their moods were buoyant. Their journey was coming to an end as they headed back to Lonbaig. Life was never going to be normal again. But that didn't mean that it couldn't be good.

  ***

  Mike had been awake for several minutes before he managed to open his eyes. When he did, all he saw was grey, all he felt was a cold, uncomfortable dampness shivering through him. He closed his eyes, his breathing remained heavy, and his thoughts fuzzy. He waited a few more minutes and then opened them again. The greyness was still there and now…now there was something else. It felt like he was being rocked, ever so gently. He forced himself to take in a deep breath and caught the unmistakable smell of the sea. He tried to find a memory, something that led to his current situation. He delved beyond the fogginess, searching...hunting—what was the last thing he remembered?

  "Mike?" his thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.

  He moved his head to see where the sound had come from and immediately, the fuzziness washed over him again like a wave. He fought to gain control and saw his little sister Sammy. Her tear stained face was staring up from his shoulder. It did nothing to abate his confusion. He tried to speak but couldn't. It was almost like he'd been drugged. Then that single thought rang in his head:

  It wasn't like he'd been drugged—he had been drugged!

  He remembered turning to see Lucy with an empty syringe in her hand, a look of panic on her face, the warm feeling rushing through his veins. He slowly moved his fingers up to his neck and felt a small spot of dried blood where the needle had gone in. Lucy had drugged him. But why?

  "Mike?" Sammy pleaded this time.

  "I'm okay...just groggy...give me a minute," his words scratched from his dry throat as he tried to regain his train of thought. He and Lucy had been in bed. There had been a fevered banging on the door. One of the villagers had told them of two armies... "Where are we?" he asked urgently, adrenaline beginning to surge through him, countering the remaining effects of the anaesthetic.

  "I don't know. We kept going until I couldn't hear the guns any more. Then I turned the motor off." Her tone was apologetic. "Jake ran away," she cried as if confessing some terrible deed.

  "What do you mean?"

  "I was trying to listen to what you were arguing about in the kitchen. When you started shouting, he must have got scared and run off. Lucy went to look for him, but couldn't find him and then Emma told me I had to get you to safety." Her words were interspersed with sobs. When she finished, she broke down, and Mike held her close. Five minutes passed by
and the cold mist slowly began to lift. Behind it there was the suggestion of a blazing sun, today would be a hot day.

  He kissed Sammy on the head and slowly sat up, pulling her to an upright position as well. "Don't worry, we'll find Jake. I know he's only six, but he's smart. I’m sure he hid away somewhere."

  "Do you think so?" she asked, desperately wanting to believe his words.

  "I know so. We're survivors in this family. You'll see. He'll be waiting for us when we get back there." Mike hated lying to his sister, but right now, lies were much easier than truths.

  "Emma gave me this," she said, handing Mike a compass.

  "Right," Mike replied, starting the motor. "Let's go find our brother."

  ***

  A horn sounded from up ahead, and the lorry stuttered to a halt. It suddenly occurred to Lucy that she couldn't remember the last time she had heard any gunfire. Other vehicles pulled up behind and doors creaked and slammed. She could hear shouts and laughter over the wails and cries of the women in the lorry. A heavy bolt lifted, and the door swung open. Light flooded in, and the women near the door backed away from it like frightened animals. Four men stood with rifles aimed into the lorry, while two more ushered a large group of crying figures up a hastily erected step ladder.

  "Fuckin’ hell, were they the best you could find?" scoffed one of the men.

  "They'll be alright for working the fields," laughed another.

  "Too fuckin’ right. Waking up next to that'd give you nightmares," he said as laughter erupted from the others.

  When the final woman stumbled into the lorry, the step ladder was removed and the door slammed shut again. The sound of chains clanged against the metal before vehicle doors banged shut. Two men, obviously the ranking ‘officers’ lit up cigarettes at the side of the trailer. Lucy, Emma, Beth, and Sarah peered through the bullet holes and strained to listen to what they were saying.

  "That's it. Fry and the Boss are going to be over the fucking moon. These crofters and fishermen, they knew how to fucking hoard, I'll give them that," said one of the men as he took a long drag on his cigarette.

  "Oh my God!" whispered Beth, as the men continued talking.

  "What?" asked Lucy.

  "Fry...that fucking madman from down in Candleton."

  "It can't be him," replied Emma. "He's dead."

  "Did anyone ever make sure? Because it's a hell of a coincidence don't you think?"

  "Oh shit!" said Emma and Lucy simultaneously.

  "Did you find any juice, the trucks are running low?" asked one of the raiders.

  "Red Diesel. Fucking gallons of the stuff," replied another.

  "Sweet. Right, we'll get filled up, then head back. It's just past eleven now, we should be back at base by seven or eight."

  "Like I said, we staked this area out well. Stick to the route and we'll be fine." Gordon Mckeith had travelled throughout the highlands several weeks before, posing as a trader. All the time he had been cataloguing what each village had, how each village could be used to his advantage. Now came the harvest. Food, seeds, equipment, fuel, alcohol, building materials, women for the whore houses and for servitude, it was a bonanza, he would be a hero when he made his return, but more importantly, he would have status with Fry and The Don, and nothing was more important than that.

  When the vehicles had refuelled and begun to roll again it was Sarah who spoke. "I don't know if this is of any use, but when they opened the doors I took a good look. I think we're on the road to Inverness."

  "Great, anybody fancy a shopping trip? asked Beth"

  "Screw this. We're getting out of here," Lucy said, turning to Sarah. "How long do you think before we reach Inverness?"

  "Maybe forty minutes or so."

  "Okay, listen, if we try and make a break for it in the open country, the ones they don't kill, they'll just round up. If we make a break for it in a city, they won't have the stomach for it."

  "You don't know that," Sarah replied.

  "Inverness will be swarming with RAMs, the cost of catching us will outweigh the benefits a thousand times over. They've got our supplies, getting killed for seventy or eighty women wouldn't make sense," she said, this time looking towards Emma and Beth who were following her every word.

  "Wait a minute," Sarah said in a louder voice. Realising she had caught the attention of some of the other women, she continued in more hushed tones. "How do we survive the RAMs? More importantly, how do we break free in the first place?"

  "If we're going to do this, we all need to be in it together," Lucy said as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

  "Do what? In what together?" Sarah asked.

  Lucy grabbed a strap dangling from the side of the container and got to her feet. Emma and Beth joined her. Sarah looked on confused, but eventually rose too.

  "Ladies. Listen to me." The inside of the container became hushed. "Most of you know me. Most of you know how myself, Emma, and Beth came to be here." The women stayed quiet, their sobs and moans temporarily subdued. "We have just two choices. We either stay in this truck until it reaches its final destination - I can't even begin to tell you what a nightmare awaits us at the end of this journey - or we escape and make it back to our homes."

  "What homes?" one of the women called out. "Th-They killed my husband, they set fire to my house," she said beginning to cry again. "What is there to go back to?"

  The woman's teenage daughter wrapped her arms around her, to comfort herself as much as her mother.

  Lucy couldn't see detail of the woman's face in the dark, but she could hear the pain in her voice. "You're right. What we'd be going back to is a big question mark at the moment. But we're a community. If nothing else, we have each other. If your house is turned to ashes, together we can build a new one. Whatever hardships lie ahead of us, let's face them together on our own terms."

  "They stole our supplies. They took what little livestock we had," yet another frightened voice shouted out. "We'll starve to death if we go back."

  This time Beth stepped forward. "We've got crops in the ground. There are fish in the sea. There’s fruit in the forest. We can survive."

  The hard voice of a middle age woman broke through the dark. "What if we don't want to survive?"

  Lucy took over again. "Then they've won. In your heart of hearts, if you think there's nothing left worth fighting for or if in some twisted way, you think you deserve this fate, then stay here." She held the strap up in her hand, "Or take one of these lashings, tie it round your neck and hang yourself now. But I know we need to fight. We need to find strength in each other, get back to our homes, and rebuild." She paused waiting for someone else to shout out, but nobody did. "You women talk among yourselves. This decision is yours and yours alone, but my friends and I are getting out of here, and you can come or you can stay. But whichever choice you make, you need to make it soon."

  CHAPTER TWO

  The fog had lifted fully by the time Mike steered the dinghy into shore. His little sister had been silent for most of the journey back. She was scared, she was worried about Jake, but most of all, she was confused. The intentions of adults were perplexing to youngsters. Mike looped the rope around a large black rock and helped his sister out. He took hold of her hand to reassure her as they walked back to the house. There was no sign of raiders or damage to the house. As he walked through the gate, he noticed that Daisy, his gran's goat, did not come rushing up to him as was her custom. In fact, there was no sign of Daisy at all. He let go of Sammy's hand and signalled for her to stay put as he stooped to remove his knife from its ankle holster. He quietly pushed down the handle on the door and allowed it to swing open. Deathly quiet greeted him from within. He searched the entire house, then went back to the door to collect his sister.

  In the kitchen, the cupboards had been emptied. Drawers had been pulled out and smashed on the tiled floor. There was not a grain of food left. Mike sat down on the corner of the table as he surveyed the damage. Sammy stood, tears welling in her eyes.

  Mike could feel his blood boiling inside him. He could feel his hands beginning to tremble as rage consumed him. He took a long deep breath, clenched and unclenched his fists once, twice, three times. He had to control himself for his Sammy's sake. He had to remain level headed. All he wanted to do was find the men who had done this and literally rip them limb from limb. That would come later though. He would get revenge for this. Taking his sister and Lucy…making Jake run…he would make them pay for all of it. But first of all, he needed to take back control.