Chapter 3

The night before ‘A-day’, three young men made their way across the park. It was dark, but no torches were allowed, they waited until they got their night vision, then they followed the zig zag course which Harold had mapped out, it avoided all the automated lights that came on if there was large animal movement; occasionally a deer triggered them. Very occasionally a girl was out after dark; she was usually caught due to the lights. At the end of the house, the drain pipes were removed, but the brackets remained. An extendible hook reached the first one and dropped the thin rope through then the hook pulled it back to earth and that was used to pull up a climbing rope. Belaying onto a drain bracket ten feet up, the hook was used to pull a rope through the next bracket. It was slow work. Only one person could do it, and the two left on the ground had to be ready to run or hide at any moment. Around the corner, at the front, the cctv and night lights waited to catch a glimpse. The security company were twenty miles away, but they could watch any movement easily. The security system had been properly put in to cover all the ground, but the large dustbins had arrived later, blocking the view at this corner. Once in the air they were invisible – the logical argument was that the cameras would see anybody on the ground, people didn’t fly in.

So Duncan climbed, and Harold and Dieter (he preferred the name Dieter to Hans) stayed hidden until all the ropes were in place. Then came the most dangerous part, making the climb. A slip and a fall would result in a camera seeing, they would be seen, captured and a scandal would result. They each made the climb carrying two and a half litres of the liquid. They had practised in the school gym until they were confident in climbing a rope, but one mistake would be enough.

There was a low balustrade around the edge of the roof; within this there were a series of low pitched roofs allowing for valleys that allowed good hiding.

From the roof, they could make their way unseen along to the small tower in which the water tank still resided. It wasn’t the original, of course, this was a replacement plastic tank; but the principle still applied. The drinking water came from other pipes, but the bathroom systems were still pressurised by the same gravity feed from this tank. It filled up overnight, and nearly emptied in the morning when everyone washed. Then it replenished itself ready for the lesser wave in the evening as each age group cleaned teeth and went to bed. Starting at 8 and finishing at 10. They settled down to wait.