Chapter 16: Finding some friends

Jamie found Laura taking an inventory of the various foodstuffs they already had at Skibo. Her plan was to help Jamie identify the best types of supplies so that his next trip to a supermarket distribution centre would be more targeted and give them all some variety in their diet.

She could see that Jamie was excited as he approached her and she smiled just to have him closer to her.

"Laura, you're never going to believe this, but I got an e-mail from the Captain of a nuclear submarine and two from people in America. It sounds as if the Americans managed to catch the terrorists that were carrying the virus there and the government vaccinated all their people. Isn't that fantastic news?" he asked.

Jamie was a little puzzled that Laura didn't seem to be getting as excited as he was at the news that the US had survived the virus attack.

"Well bully for them," Laura said.

"But don't you see, if they've all been vaccinated, they can send US troops to come and help us. They'll even be able to supply experts that can get us back on our feet - doctors, engineers, teachers even," Jamie continued to enthuse.

"Jamie, I'm really pleased all those Americans are safe, I really am, but as for them coming to our rescue, I don't think that's such a great idea," Laura replied.

Jamie looked at his sister quizzically.

"Laura, are you mad or something? Why wouldn't it be a good idea?" he asked.

"Just think about it Jamie. As I see it, part of the problem with these Islamic fanatics was down to how they perceived US foreign policy. It always looked like America was meddling in the affairs of just about every country in the world. They were everywhere, too big and too powerful, they couldn't stop themselves. It was always a case of - the US has been invited by the government of... - but even I could see that the government of a small country really didn't have any option but to agree to what the US wanted.

"I know they're Britain's allies and friends and I'm fully behind that continuing. I just don't think we should be depending on them too much. Britain, or what's left of us anyway, should try and sort things out on our own first, stand up for ourselves. We shouldn't run to our big brother the first time somebody hits us in the playground. Don't you think so?" Laura finished passionately.

Jamie was quite literally stunned. He knew his sister was smart, but he had no idea the fourteen-tear-old had such a well developed sense of international politics. How had that happened? His own more simplistic analysis told him she was wrong however. How could a bunch of teenagers without any training possibly defeat fanatical terrorists and then somehow re-build a whole country? It was clear they needed a lot of help, adult help, expert help. Laura's plea for them to try and stand up for themselves struck a chord with him he had to admit, but the scale of the task was just too huge to consider trying to do it without help. Laura changed the subject.

"What about the submarine?" she asked.

Jamie explained that he had received an e-mail from the Captain of the HMS Vengeance and this news seemed to excite Laura a bit more.

"Well that's different. They're British and trained for war. Now they could make a big difference," she said, "if they come ashore they would be more than capable of taking care of the terrorists for us. There's bound to be engineers and other professionals in the crew too."

"The problem is sis, we don't know if it's safe for them to come ashore and we've got no way of finding out. Remember, these guys haven't been vaccinated like the Americans and Canadians. I'm not even sure the Captain will even risk making the attempt," said Jamie.

"But they have to. It's their duty to defend their country!" Laura exclaimed.

"No commander is going to risk his forces unless it's absolutely necessary sis. The Captain would be foolish to expose his people to the virus if it's still around."

"But we're kids. We're being attacked by terrorists and we're on our own, they have to come and help us!" Laura whined.

"I'm not so sure sis."

It was Jamie's turn now to change the subject. He told Laura about the falling number of e-mails he was receiving from other teenagers who had survived and what he thought that meant. His suspicion was that the terrorists were getting more successful at rounding people up and the numbers still free and able to contact Jamie were falling rapidly.

"Well we need to start rescuing people right away," his sister said.

"It's not quite that easy sis. Remember we took a chance with Fisah and look where it got us. I've been thinking about how we can pick people up without running the risk of including someone who will tell the terrorists where we are," Jamie replied.

He could see Laura had registered his point and appreciated the potential risks in just flying round picking people up without any form of screening.

"Why don't we find another hotel here in the north and set people up there? You know, the same principle you used so that you had time to test Fisah. At least if we bring people into the highlands it will get them further away from the terrorists," Laura said.

"Doh! Why didn't I think of that?" Jamie said, "of course we can do that and you're right, the important thing is to get them out of reach of Fisah and her crowd."

Jamie thought that this was so important that he should start looking for a suitable spot right away. He kissed his sister and told her he was going to go out and look for another hotel immediately.

04:21, 14 August

Assam led the group of twelve heavily armed teenagers quietly through the streets of Glasgow's West End. The attacks on his patrols had continued, if anything they had grown more intense and he decided it was time to investigate who was behind them. He still couldn't afford to commit a large force to the task so, instead, he had chosen to do a recce in the early hours of the morning when most people would be asleep.

They were all dressed in army surplus gear and even had cam cream covering their faces. Assam's eyes were constantly moving, as he hunted the streets for likely places where a group might hide out. They were now walking down the street where his patrols had been attacked four times already, so he had a fair idea whoever was to blame must be close by. A small red glow suddenly caught his eye up ahead and he motioned with his arm to stop those behind him. They pressed themselves close to the wall of the tenement building they were passing.

The glow flared once more and Assam realised there was someone in front of him smoking a cigarette.

"How utterly dumb!" he thought to himself, "you're about to find out that the warnings on the packet are all to true, smoking really does kill."

He whispered to the teenager next to him, telling him that he was going to go forward and deal with whoever was on the end of the cigarette. He told him to warn the others and then he was off, crabbing across the street and into the shadows on the other side.

The teenager slipped down the line of his companions pressing his mouth to each ear as he passed on the message that Assam had spotted someone and was even now creeping up on him. All eyes strained to pick out the fiery tip of the cigarette and to try and spot Assam. The cigarette was easy, but there was no sign of their leader. Suddenly they saw the red spot tumble to the ground and a small shower of sparks appeared as the lit end of the cigarette hit the ground.

Assam was able to make out the outline of the person smoking as he crawled along the pavement in the darkness. As he got closer, he was even able to dimly make out the facial features when the cigarette flared as the person drew in the acrid smoke. He was now only ten or twelve feet from what he could now see was a Chinese youth. As the youth turned to look to his right, Assam rose and closed the remaining gap quickly. One arm circled the boy's head from the left, the hand closing over his mouth. Assam's other arm swung round the boy's head from the right, his sharp combat knife lunging for the exposed throat.

He felt the explosion of breath against the palm that was covering the youth's mouth and also the warm wet blood that began to pour from the slit flesh. His training ensured Assam did not miss the main artery in the neck and he only had to hold the boy for a few seconds before he felt him grow limp, the sudden loss of blood causing him to lose consciousness. He lay the body down and watched the blood continue to drain out of him; it looked like thick black oil in the dim light.

Assam grabbed the Chinese youth by the scruff of his neck and dragged him further off into the darkness. He could dimly make out his own force creeping forward to join him; some of them looking decidedly pale at the sight of the body before them. He ignored them and turned to examine the building the Chinese boy had been standing in front of. There wasn't much to see. It was one of many small city centre hotels that had flourished in the West End before the virus had taken away their clientele. The building was on four storeys and had a double door for an entrance. Assam knew it was too risky to attempt entering the hotel before he had more intelligence on what he was up against. He grabbed the body again and quietly led the way across the street once more and stealthily entered another of the small hotels.

Once he had all of his force inside the building, Assam dumped the Chinese youth's body and asked for volunteers to remain behind to watch the hotel opposite. He was pleased to see all of his Pakistani youngsters were eager to be chosen and he singled out two. He led his volunteers up a flight of stairs and they picked out a comfortable room for the surveillance to begin. Assam advised the pair that he would return with others to relieve them at around the same time the next day.

It was a simple job to find an exit at the rear of the hotel and Assam led the remainder of his force through the kitchens and into a loading bay. They entered the back door of another building opposite and made their way through it and eventually into the next street over from where they had been. Assam continually looked back over his shoulder to make sure he would remember the building when he returned the next day. With any luck his surveillance team would be able to gather enough intelligence to allow him to deal with this threat properly.

Jamie had picked out the Drumossie Hotel in Inverness as the ideal staging post for any survivors he picked up [http://www.hotelreviewscotland.com/hotel.asp?ID=585 for details of the hotel]. He had circled the hotel to make sure it was safe to land and then set the helicopter down on the extensive lawns at the rear of the building. Again the accommodation was luxurious, nowhere near on the scale of Skibo, but very comfortable nonetheless. He spent the next couple of hours gathering supplies from nearby Inverness, where there were ample sources to choose from.

Once Jamie felt he had enough provisions to keep a large group going, including plenty of fuel for the hotel generators in case it lost power from the national grid, he flew to the nearby army garrison and loaded up weapons and ammunition. He wanted to make sure any survivors he brought to Inverness would be able to defend themselves and begin to build up their skills with firearms. Something told him that it was inevitable they would be involved in some kind of conflict in the future.

He took a break in mid afternoon and made himself some soup to eat before selecting a room in the hotel for himself and setting up his laptop. His first message went to Kenny in Crianlarich. Kenny's last message had told Jamie that he had narrowly avoided being picked up by what he believed was a terrorist patrol. He had been one of the first to e-mail the Surviving in Scotland web site and somehow Jamie felt a growing responsibility for him. Jamie e-mailed him now and asked Kenny if he had an MSN account. He was surprised to get an instantaneous reply - obviously Kenny was remaining very close to his own computer.

With the boy's MSN address, Jamie wasted no time in IM'ing him and advised him to make his way into the nearby glen. It was perhaps a sign of the youngsters growing desperation that he didn't for a second question why Jamie was asking him to do that, he simply replied with an 'ok'.

Jamie spent another fifteen minutes e-mailing a number of the other survivors who had contacted them, leaving instructions for them to make their way out into the open while remaining reasonably close to their towns and villages. He made a careful list on the hotel's notepaper of the places he would need to fly to and then dashed back to the Lynx.

His idea of getting them out into the open was a simple one. Flying over them in the helicopter would allow Jamie to make sure there were no traps waiting for him. It would also allow him to land and pick up the survivors quickly. A number of quick 'in and outs' was what he was hoping for.

Thirty-five minutes later he was approaching Glen Falloch and easily picked out a boy who was jumping up and down, waving his arms frantically. Jamie grinned to himself. This had to be Kenny and he had managed to avoid the terrorists long enough for Jamie to get to him. He circled the boy quickly to make sure everything was clear, then let the Lynx drop low enough for Kenny to haul himself in. Jamie turned to the boy and looked him over.

He looked about fourteen, with a thin, wiry build and an unruly mop of blonde hair. His eyes were blue and at that moment they were stinging with Kenny's tears. Jamie wasn't sure if they were tears of joy or of relief that he was now with another survivor. He watched as the other youth brushed his eyes with the back of his sleeve and then he too began to grin like a fool. Jamie pulled the Lynx back into the air and headed for Fort William, the next location on his list.

Almost two hours later, Jamie had rounded up six more survivors, four boys and two girls. He was heading for his last pick up, where he expected to find four more. This last stop was on the outskirts of Inverness itself and he was pleased to find the people he had e-mailed had all gathered. Once more he circled to make sure there was no hidden danger and then he lowered the helicopter to allow the newcomers to climb aboard.

The helicopter was quite crowded now and Jamie thought it was fortunate that they only had a few miles to fly before he reached the hotel where he would set this group up. The four teenagers he had just picked up were surprised when the helicopter began to descend again so quickly and, when Jamie allowed the Lynx to settle on the ground this time, all of them realised this wasn't a pick up, but something more substantial.

Jamie shut down the helicopter and led his group of eleven survivors into the Drumossie hotel. There was a large and comfortable sitting area beside reception and he let all of his new friends find a seat before talking to them.

"Okay folks, this is going to be your new home for a while. I've stocked up on everything you'll need for a few months and I'm going to leave you to figure out who's sleeping where, how to use the kitchens and the laundry and generally agree amongst you how you're going to work together. Leave room eleven free, that's where I sleep when I'm here," he said.