Chapter 3

Thursday, November 11, 2027, Clerkenwell

The next morning, they got up with a plan. They loaded up as many guns as they could use and headed South to the river. They wanted to avoid people as much as possible and that area didn’t have many people living on it, especially on the north bank. On the way, they kept an eye out for building sites. There was a lot of office construction ongoing. They didn’t have any luck at the first two but at the third site, they found what they wanted. A builder had parked his van with a long extension ladder on top. It had eight segments, and he hoped it would be tall enough. Then they cycled East. It was quite a motley crew. Dale and Tom cycled at the front followed by the girls they had freed with Arancha and Jake forming the vanguard.

When they reached Tower Hill, they could see that the East End was in chaos with smoke rising between the buildings. Dale’s target though was unharmed. They were going to take over the Tower of London. The walls were tall and all the gates were closed. There was no easy way in. At the lowest point, the walls were 25 feet tall. They spent a few minutes at the top of the hill watching for activity but couldn’t spot any. With a moat surrounding the walls and the gate towers standing even taller, it took them a while to find the best spot. In the southeast there was a gate with a bridge The gate was the only one without a tower.

“Let’s hope this ladder is as long as we were hoping.”

They extended the ladder and it reached two feet above the battlements. That was plenty.

With Dale securing the ladder, Tom climbed up.

“All clear up here.”

Next came Nicole and the rest of the girls followed by Arancha. They pulled up their weapons with a rope and abandoned the bicycles by a ticket kiosk where they wouldn’t be so visible. Dale went next and Dale and Tom secured the ladder from above while Jake came up last, being lighter. They pulled the ladder up and were now inside the outer walls. Dale had watched a programme on the Beefeaters that guarded the tower. They were formally part of the military but mainly did tours. There were 33 of them and lived on the grounds with their families. During COVID-19 they had locked up the Tower and stayed put. Dale expected they had done the same this time.

The inner Wakefield Tower was unlocked which meant they could make their way to the main gate and from there north to the accommodation of the Yeoman Warders. They split into teams to search with Tom and Arancha each heading a search party of five and Dale a party of four, including Nicole and Natalie. It took them the better part of three hours to get through all the houses on the outer ring. They recovered 11 bodies which they dragged out but would have to deal with later. They also found a stash of forty ceremonial polearms, though they did look like they had a tip that could do some damage. It took them a long time, but they finally found the keys in the Chief Warder’s house.

That allowed them to unlock the inner gate and get to the White Tower. The White Tower had been built by William shortly after his conquest of England to keep control of London from the edge of the city. Its main entrance was raised at the first floor while there were now a further four doors on the far side which allowed access to the gift shop. Dale planned to block those up and just have one to defend. The Tower was imposing. Inside the windows let in a decent amount of light though it was still dark and much of the space had been turned into a museum and exhibition space. They would need to change that. The place was clearly very defensible, but Dale did wonder if he had been too ambitious. There were just fourteen of them and the castle would have typically been manned by hundreds. For the time being he decided to only focus on the White Tower. If his crew grew sufficiently, they could think about manning the walls. There was a certain gravitas in the air as he walked through the castle. He felt like a medieval Lord, stepping in the shoes of the Normans.

With the keys in hand, they got the bicycles inside and divided up tasks. Arancha, Leila and Ling would clear out all the museum items into the yard, keeping what they might be able to use. Nicole, Jaz and Becky would be moving all the food and drink they could find in the already cleared Yeoman’s cottages to the Tower with one of the cargo bikes while Jake, Olesia and Darya would make a start on clearing out the cottages in the inner courtyard. Dale and Tom meanwhile would be doing supply runs. For the time being the walls would keep them safe.

It was a forty-minute round trip back to Clerkenwell. They got the rest of the weapons and first aid equipment and then did another run for first aid, camping equipment and clothes. When they got back to the castle, they pulled Jaz and Leila off their duties to make food. They were in luck that the cottages weren’t on mains gas and had propane cylinders for cooking. That would keep them going for a while. While the two of them cooked and the others continued with their tasks, Dale and Tom headed back to Clerkenwell.

“Let’s check if some of my neighbours are still around”

“Do you really want to get sidetracked like that?”

“We have plenty of space and they might not last out here.”

Dale went down to 21 and knocked again.

“It’s Dale from 33. We’ve gathered survivors and have a safe place to stay if you want to join us”

A brunette woman of about thirty opened the door. She had a slight German accent.

“Thanks for checking in on me. I think I’ll have to take you up on your offer. I’m Anja”

She stretched out her hand to shake his.

They checked on four more flats that previously had people in them. In two of them, they had since died but they got a forty-year-old Frenchman called Bruno and a 27-year-old Polish girl called Polina to join them. They both seemed very grateful. They loaded up more food and cycled back, picking up three bicycles for their new joiners.

When they arrived at the tower the others were slightly surprised but went along with Dale’s judgement. Without anything having been said he was turning into the informal leader of this ragtag group. They all ate and then continued. It was refreshing to have something to do and after what the girls had been through a good distraction too. By the evening, they had managed to clear a large section of the first floor and brought enough mattresses and bedding for everyone. They locked the door from the inside and barricaded it with two sturdy benches. If anyone needed to go use the toilet at night, they could use the latrines built into the wall which emptied directly into the courtyard. Not perfect, but perfectly safe. They set up mattresses for the women on the East side. The less numerous men were around a bend on the West side.

Before they went to sleep Dale instructed them to use what battery they had left to text everyone in their contacts. Most of the girls didn’t have their phones but the rest sent out a message. It was getting dark, and they went to their beds. They had managed with bottled water for today but Dale knew they needed to find a better solution.

While Dale was sleeping, he felt someone slip next to him. It was Nicole. She was wearing a T-shirt and didn’t say anything. She put her head on his chest and fell asleep. He wondered what was going on in her head but didn’t mind the company. She was beautiful and it was getting colder. There were worse ways to keep warm.

Friday, November 12, 2027, The White Tower

They awoke well-rested and without incident. No one said anything about Nicole having moved beds at night. They had texted almost 4,000 contacts and received eleven replies. Whether the others were all dead, had dead phones or just didn’t want to reply he didn’t know. Dale got responses from Allegra, his ex Clare, his uni friend Charlie, an electrician he had once used called “Bob” and someone he had saved down as “Pimlico Hot” that he didn’t recall. Tom got responses from two guys he had dated, while Jake reached three school friends. Arancha had one response and Pierre and Polina didn’t get any.

Jake’s friends were too far out but they resolved to pick up the others. Dale left Tom in charge and went out with Jake. He wasn’t sure who he’d be able to trust as the group grew so was leaning more on the early arrivals. They had to pick up eight people across London and wanted to come home in one piece. His ex-girlfriend Clare was closest, just south of the river. She was training to be a doctor and would have just completed her foundation years. While she was cute and he liked her they hadn’t clicked and drifted apart after two months of on-off dating. They met her by London Bridge station, which was a bit tense as it seemed there were the wrong kind of people around. When she spotted him, she waved and smiled.

“Didn’t think I’d meet you like this” he mused.

“Where are we going to?”

“We’ve commandeered the Tower and have fifteen people there already”

“I have an idea. Guy’s is just around the corner. Follow me.”

They reached the Guy’s hospital. It was chaos with dead bodies everywhere.

“Let’s load up an ambulance.”

She was smart, he had to give that to her. Dale and Jake followed her inside. They loaded up a trolley at the onsite pharmacy and filled the ambulance. Clare drove it with Dale and Jake leading the way. They had to stop quite often to clear the street for her. When they reached the Tower, they unlocked the gate and drove it in. It was tight but fit in. This would go a long way if anything ever happened. Clare stayed to get acquainted with the others and pitch in with the ongoing task of making the Tower habitable. Dale and Jake headed off again. Next on their route was one of Tom’s friends. He was a thirty-two-year-old stocky Swede called Sven with a bodybuilder look to him. Next came Bob who met them at Elephant and Castle. He seemed like a nice enough guy though he hadn’t really gotten to know him. He had already secured a bike and had his kit with him.

Arancha’s friend Bea met them in Lambeth and was quite anxious to be out. From there they went to get Charlie in Kennington. He also had a bike. They cycled across the bridge to Pimlico. He hadn’t been wrong when he saved Kat on his phone. It must have been at least two years back that they met. He now regretted not having pursued her, but he had just gone exclusive with Sarah and then forgot about the whole thing. He wondered what had happened to Sarah. She hadn’t responded to his text. Kat was tall at 5’11 and was intimidatingly good-looking with echoes of a peak dark blonde Megan Fox. She kissed him on the cheek and jumped in the cargo carrier. They cycled North to Paddington where they picked up Joe, another one of Tom’s ex-boyfriends, picking up a bicycle for Kat on the way. Their last stop was Primrose Hill. Allegra was bubbly with excitement and gave Dale a big hug and kiss on the cheek. It lingered a bit longer than usual and he wondered if she had wanted something from him back when he was together with her friend. She was cute as ever, though loaded down with a large backpack. All the pickups done they cycled back to the Tower. They came by an Indian corner shop and loaded up more rice and beans but also spices to make things more interesting.