Chapter 16 : Summer, Bikers and Farmers

As soon as I got back to Oak Tree House at lunch time on the day after our argument with Kat all three wives draped themselves over me and Kelly came out with the standard comment that I suspect women have been using since Adam and Eve, "You know you love us all..."

I suspected I knew what was coming and Kelly confirmed it, "I know we all enjoy a bit of fun together, even Karen joins in now, but sometime I wish there was just two of us in a bed. We could still have fun all together, it's just that for sleeping it would be more comfortable and we'll get bigger as our pregnancies progress and needto go to the loo more. Karen has suggested that we should each have a bedroom and one of us will spend each night with you."

I said I wasn't actually unhappy with the idea and Kat then showed me some revised plans for our extension. It was quite clever, we all had a room, obviously not as big as it would have been, but big enough for a king size bed and furniture. These four rooms were at the end of the extension and shared a common entrance vestibule with five doors off it, the fifth door leading to a shower room and toilet. Two 'nursery' rooms were included on the corridor leading to the entrance vestibule, these had doors on to the corridor and connecting doors with the two adjoining girls rooms.

I asked how the 'rota' for sleeping with me would be organised and Kelly said, "That's up to you." I already knew that it would be better if the girls organised it between themselves as I couldn't then be accused of favouritism.

"You organise it," I said to all of them, adding, "But if you leave me on my own I can go out and bring the first willing girl back to fill my bed for the night." I was laughing as I said it. Everyone seemed happy and no one objected to my punishment if I was left on my own.

The new plans didn't change the size of the extension and, as we only got as far as completing the footings, it meant that there was no extra work required to use them. Matt's group from Bempton had decided to trade their labour for food. Two of them were builders before the collapse and would be working on all the building projects for the rest of the summer.

After lunch I called on Paul to see how he was getting on with planning our expedition to find a doctor. According to the people who helped, he and Tracey had a weird contraption in the empty barn. They had been scavenging for several days, Scott and Vi had taken them to Bridlington twice. They took me down to see it. I asked him what he had been up to and he just said, "Wait and see."

He opened the doors and there it was, a two seat microlight aircraft. My first question was, "Can you fly it?"

Paul was honest, "No I can't. I'm going to have to teach myself. I salvaged every book I could find on flying and microlights from the library in Bridlington."

My response was simply, "You must be mad."

Paul then outlined his reasoning and I realised he had given the matter a lot of thought, if he could master the microlight it made sense.

"I've studied the maps and the distances we would have to cover are just too big if we were to have a ground based expedition. I want to cover the whole area from the Humber to the Tees, which is above the flood plain, paying particular attention to the valleys of the North York Moors. I reckon anyone escaping the collapse from Teesside would have made for this area. If we go in Landrovers it's going to make a dent in your bio-diesel stocks. I reckon to cover the area properly we would end up driving close to a thousand miles and it would take us at least a month. That's well over forty gallons of bio-deisel. Also, for security, we would have to take two more people with us. I've mounted five hi-res digital cameras on the microlight and, flying at eight thousand feet, I can cover a strip three to four miles wide. Also the microlight uses petrol and, since we found the Green Goddesses, we actually have quite good stocks and its only other use is in chainsaws. I reckon I could cover the same area in two days, with just the two of us, Tracey would work the cameras. As well as looking for signs of habitation we could then study the pictures at our leisure. I'd make a second run a week or so later, and we could look for changes which indicate survivors; vegetable gardens, wood piles, that sort of thing. We can then see where people are living and prepare to contact them, either with a ground expedition or use the microlight again."

Well, what he said made sense, but could he master the controls and actually take off and land safely? Tracey joined us and I asked her what she thought, she actually gave me a bit of confidence. "Before the collapse my partner had one, a single seater, that's how we knew where to find this one. I never flew it myself but I did go in his friend's two seater, this one, a few times and saw how he took off and landed."

I agreed that the plan made sense if Paul could master the art of flying it. He told me that to start with he would only fly in dead calm conditions. He had also asked Katie and Larry to rig a sort of tether system between two electricity pylons and he intended to use that to get the feel of the microlight under controlled conditions.

Having discussed all the possible outcomes I told Paul that I was happy with his plans. We would do the survey and then decide on our next move.

When I got home I told the others of Paul's plans and the general consensus was, "Rather him than me." However I thought Paul was relishing the challenge and Tracey certainly also seemed to be up for it.

After tea it was Kat's turn to come for a walk with me. I put my arm around her and we walked out of the village, towards railway farm, and then turned off on to a track which led towards Bempton. I knew I had to make time for all three girls. She responded to my arm around her by rubbing her body against mine and, whilst we were walking, we were teasing each other and talking. She understood that Kelly and I were close and she told me that she was worried that we would tire of her. I told her that would never happen, we had taken her into our family and she was an important part of it. She told me she appreciated me taking the time to have one on one time with each of them.

It was getting dark when we got back to the main road to Railway Farm and, when we got to the seat where Kelly and I had a quick fuck the night that I picked Kat to join us, she dropped her jeans and knickers and bent over the arm of the seat. She turned, looked at me and said, "Come on, fuck me, like you did Kelly that night. Don't deny it, I could smell it as soon as she walked in." I gave Kat what she wanted and enjoyed giving it to her.

Over the next few days I developed a routine where I would go out with one wife after our evening meal, we would walk, talk and sometimes have sex outside. The tensions of the last few weeks seemed to be subsiding.

It was just after five in the morning, about a week later, when we were all woken by a noise a bit like a chain-saw. I think we all realised that it was the microlight. We all got up and got dressed quickly, Kirsty too, it had woken her as well. We all trooped down to the field that Tracey and Paul had been using. As we got there Paul was just coasting to a halt.

Tracey met us, and quite a few others who had been woken by the noise, and said, "I knew everyone would be down to watch but Paul wanted to make his first take off and landing without an audience."

Paul then came over and said, "I wanted to do my first flight without everyone gawping, and I wanted to do it at first light as the air is still at this time and there's no convection to worry about."

He then returned to the aircraft, took off and circled the field. You could see he was a bit wobbly, over correcting on occasions, but he made the circuit and landed safely.

He practised take-off and landing for another hour, until a breeze sprang up, and then called it a day. There was no doubt he could achieve an aerial survey of our area.

Over the next week he was out every morning when it was fine and then he was ready to start his survey. He was going to cover the eastern North York Moors first. Tracey would control the camera, a test run over Newsham and Filey had proved that there was more than enough resolution to pick out signs of habitation.

The day dawned and our two explorers set off at five o'clock. The plan was that they would fly up the coast as far as Whitby, and return in a loop which would take in some of the valleys of the North York Moors. We kept in radio contact most of the time. Paul told us that there were several places that looked to be inhabited and, as he flew over Sleights, near Whitby, he saw people on the ground waving to him. He dropped down to about three thousand feet, high enough to be out of range of a rifle, and took more photos.

On their return they had about four hundred images and three hours of video footage to analyse. We looked at the obvious signs first and there was a significant group in Sleights, probably not as big as ours but we could see at least eight houses in a group that were obviously inhabited. As we also suspected there were at least twenty places in the valleys of the North York Moors that were inhabited, probably only one or two families in each, but still worth exploring. As they analysed the pictures over the next few days we noticed a definite line of habitation along Eskdale.

Kelly and I discussed what the next move should be. We tried to establish radio contact with Sleights, turning our aerials towards them, but got no response. Even if they had radios they were in a steep sided valley. In the end we decided that our best bet would be to drop a parcel to them, with a letter introducing ourselves.

After more discussion we decided that the parcel should contain a freshly baked loaf, five pounds of flour, half a pound of fresh butter, some bacon and a letter introducing ourselves. Fitted with a simple parachute, this would then be dropped from the microlight.

How much we put in the letter led to more discussion but I decided that there was no point in keeping our location secret any longer. Kelly wrote an open letter to the people:

We are a community based at Newsham near Bridlington, that managed to survive the collapse. We fought off two armed groups of ex-prisoners during the winter, and are making long term plans to survive. We have established contact with two other local groups and are co-operating and trading with them. We have also partially absorbed another small group of survivors.

We are well armed and capable of defending ourselves but our weapons are for defence ONLY. We are only trying to survive and would like to establish contact and trade.

Mark Jennings was elected as leader at the start of the collapse, and Kelly, his wife, was elected deputy leader at the same time.

We are using steam engines to travel between the various communities and make scavenging trips out of the area to salvage equipment and stores.

We are using VHF radios to communicate but I think the geography ensures that we cannot establish radio contact with you.

Mark and Kelly Jennings, Newsham.

The letter and parcel were delivered the following day. Paul said that it landed in a field behind one of the houses and he saw two people rush out to collect it.

Two days later Scott called in on the radio, he and Vi were doing the 'milk run' from Kirkham Abbey in the light engine when they were flagged down at West Heslerton crossing by two, to use Scott's description, 'biker types'. They must have been crapping themselves but they handled the situation well and called in immediately. I was at Railway farm when I was summoned to take the call, working with Larry on fixing an alternator to one of the ploughing engines, to use it as a mobile generator to assist with our building works.

Scott related what happened when he was flagged down

Our two bikers, actually a man and woman, approached the footplate and, after expressing amazement at the age of Scott and Vi, introduced themselves.

"I'm Spot, this is Cindy, my bird, we've come from Sleights in response to your parcel and letter."

"I'm Scott, this is Vi, my girlfreind, we're part of the Newsham community. I'm learning the trade of an engineer from our steam expert."

"We'd like to visit Newsham and meet with Mark and Kelly Jennings, here's the letter that was dropped at Sleights a couple of days ago."

"We're going to Newsham, I'll call Mark up on the radio."

He then called me and I asked for his assessment of them. He said he thought they were OK. I asked if they were armed and he said, "Yes, they've got shotguns but they're broken, they're on a motor bike."

I guessed fuel would be as much a problem to them as it was to us and said, "If they want to, you could bring them back, but what about their bike?"

After a lot of discussion and a bit of head scratching they managed to lift the bike onto the front buffers and lash it there. The footplate would be crowded with four on it, there would be no room for a bike as well.

Scott left the radio on all the way back and, in between all the noises that a working engine makes, I managed to pick up snippets of conversation.

About forty minutes later our visitors arrived at the platform in the village. The news had spread and by this time about fifteen people were hanging around. We quickly offloaded their bike then Kelly and I took them over to our house which was now a partial building site. Spot expressed amazement at the amount of activity.

Kat had prepared a simple meal of cold meat sandwiches and I introduced her.

Spot commented, "So it's not just us that have more women than men."

We then got down to business.

Their community was a bit different to ours. Spot and Cindy were members of a biker club from Middlesbrough and decided to move out when the collapse started. They had always gone to a summer camp on a farm just outside Whitby and, in spite of their appearance and fearsome reputation in Middlesbrough, they had always had friendly relations with the farmer and villagers where they stayed. When they arrived, in November last year, the villagers were fighting a loosing battle against the wandering gangs and both groups quickly realised that they could help each other. The bikers sent the gangs packing.

"After we castrated a scumbag who raped one of our women in front of his captured mates," said Spot with a wry grin on his face, "for some reason the rest of the gang we had captured did exactly as we told them and no one else attacked us. We lost two men and one woman. A few of the villagers kicked off about our tactics in dealing with the gangs but after a while everyone came to see that the old ways were finished. Our leader, Hissing Sid, and Ron, the farmer where we used to stay, were elected as joint leaders of 'Sleights Survivors'. We number about fifty in total.

"Ron and Sid quickly established some order, two families decided to move out. We took over all the abandoned houses and, in spite of the worst winter in living memory, everyone had enough to eat during the winter. We scavenged around the area and, come the spring, planted vegetable gardens. We have plenty of meat, mainly lamb, but we're short of flour and grain."

He then told me that discipline was strict but fair. Everyone, villagers and bikers, worked to the same rules. Everyone had to contribute to working for survival. They distilled alcohol from potatoes to fuel their bikes. There had been problems with misuse but the penalty of a whipping and the transfer of the offenders partners to other men (it was mostly the men who were guilty) brought people into line. "Some solid friendships and relationships have now been forged, some of the biker babes have taken up with local men, and we have a second wife, a woman who lost her husband to scumbags at the start of the collapse."

We explained our situation and how at the start of the collapse we brought Larry, Katie and Graham in.

Spot told us that they were interested in a flour for lamb trade and asked if we were interested. I said that we were and we got down to the logistics of meeting and trade.

Spot then gave me a formal written invitation from 'Hissing Sid and Ron Duncton' to visit Sleights. I accepted and we discussed timing. Spot said "If four of us came down to West Heslerton we could carry each of you pillion.

Then Kat threw something in which made sense. "Why don't we mount the expedition to Pickering that Katie has been wanting and see if any of the North York Moors railway equipment is usable. If it is then we could travel to Sleights by train, that would give us a way of moving materials and people between the two communities."

Spot laughed. "One of the old timers in Sleights wanted to run the steam engine in Grosmont but everyone in Sleights reckoned he was mad. However, you lot have proved it can be done so Sid would go for it. The problem then would be the gap between Pickering and West Heslerton, we studied the maps and decided that you were probably using the York Scarborough line. We'd already heard rumours that there was a group at Kirkham and we were going to try and contact them during the summer."

I called Larry down and outlined our plans. He was all in favour. He also threw in an idea, "You know there's a track bed from Pickering to the York Scarborough line, if we could re-lay that track..." This sounded like a massive undertaking. I then asked about a doctor and Spot made my day. "Yes we do. A husband and wife, both doctors. I'm sure they'd help your nurse, their problem is that they're short of equipment, Whitby hospital was burnt down."

I was prepared to set off straight away and Kelly backed me up. We would load the Landrovers onto the train and set off to West Heslerton in the morning, Katie and Larry would come with us. I asked Spot if he wanted to get back tonight and he said, "No, Sid and Ron expect us to be gone overnight, maybe two nights, but I'd like to get a message to them."

I knew our VHF radios wouldn't reach but Spot had an idea. "If anyone has a CB radio and booster? We listen on the old CB frequencies, the twenty seven meg signal might reach Sleights." I sent Karen off around the village to see if anyone had anything.

I told Spot that he and Cindy could use Karen's old room if they didn't mind living in a building site, otherwise someone else would put them up. They were happy to stay with us.

Karen returned with the news that she had located a working CB set. Spot got all the bits together and, an hour later, had contacted Sleights. The signal was very poor but they knew he and Cindy were OK, and that we intended setting off tomorrow.

Cindy was quite quiet and always deferred to her husband. I saw Karen talking to her, I would quiz her later.

I decided that we would have a meeting that evening and sent the word out. I also asked Graham who would go with us on our expedition to provide security and he said, "Will and Jen, I don't think you'll need any more."

At the meeting I introduced Spot to everyone and gave him the floor for about a quarter of an hour. I told everyone that Sleights had two doctors, a husband and wife team, and everyone, particularly those that were pregnant, were very relieved.

We all finally retired to bed at about eleven o'clock.

After about ten minutes we heard the unmistakable sounds of sex coming from the spare room and, whilst Cindy seemed quite demure in front of us, it was her voice we could hear encouraging her husband!

This set my wives off and we did our own outside broadcast, it was a good job Kirsty was a heavy sleeper.

Later, as we cuddled up together, we discussed the day and I asked about the women at Sleights. Karen explained.

"Every woman 'belongs' to a man. The woman is expected to show deference to her man and wait on him. In return the man is expected to provided food and all her other needs, including satisfying her sexual needs. A man can pass a woman on if she's not to his liking, but if she hasn't done anything wrong he still has to support her until he can persuade another man to take her on. If a man abuses his woman she can go to the leaders and complain. If the man doesn't change his ways then she is free to leave him and join with another man, and the man she leaves has no come-back. Apparently, in the early days, a few women did leave unpleasant partners and the men soon realised that if they didn't look after their women they wouldn't get any pussy. Single women have crept around behind the backs of the wives and caused trouble, so all women now have to belong to a man. Deals do get done to swap partners but it seems that mostly the women are in on it."

Sleights Survivors were different from us but they seemed to be pretty fair and I reckoned we could work with them.

Our expedition was ready to leave at seven the next morning. We loaded Spot and Cindy's bike onto the train with all our kit and set off. I had decided to take Richard, Penny, Kelly-Anne and Kayleigh as well, it was a low risk trip.

We stopped at Filey and picked them up. That made twelve in all but we now had two Landrovers in addition to the armoured one.

By eight-fifteen we were at West Heslerton and offloading our stuff from the train. Scott would then take it back to Newsham and await our call. We then set off in convoy for Pickering Station. Larry and Katie soon found two engines and decided to get them in steam, again this was going to be a long process and would mean an overnight stop in Pickering. Things were nowhere near as comfortable as when we used our train but we found a carriage with compartments and turned this into a make shift dormitory. We had brought cold food with us and by the evening we had a good supply of wood and the two engines were warming up. We had a relaxing evening and the subject of the rail gap between Pickering and our area cropped up. Katie reckoned that re-laying the six miles of track would be possible if we wanted to do it.

Kelly-Anne was being doted on by everyone. Penny had taken to motherhood. I was pleased to see that Penny, Richard and Kayleigh were now devoted to each other and you could stand next to Kayleigh without needing a clothes peg on your nose.

It had been a hard day, and we were all asleep quickly, I didn't hear any sexual cries that night.

The next morning Larry told us that we would be ready to set off as soon as the carriages and trucks had been shunted. We had managed to load the Landrovers onto flat trucks.

We finally set of at about nine. Our first problem was about five miles out of Pickering, in Newtondale. There was a landslip, not a large one, but if we were to make any more progress we would have to clear it. So everyone grabbed a shovel and got stuck in. It took us the best part of two hours to clear the track. We made our way gingerly passed the place where the hillside had collapsed. The track was undamaged but the whole area looked unstable.

Further up Newtondale we saw some more signs of survivors. They were in a remote part of the dale with no road access, we didn't actually see anyone, just the signs of life.

By one o'clock we arrived in Sleights. Sid and Ron were waiting on the platform with their women stood behind them. I introduced myself, and my two wives. Spot and Cindy were joined by another woman and the three of them started to unload his bike. Kelly stayed with me, and Kat went to talk to the women.

Sid and Ron then asked us about our adventures and problems, and Kelly and I told our story. They wanted to trade and so did we, they were mainly rearing sheep. Although everyone had a vegetable garden they had not managed to plant any wheat or barley. I said that in the short term we could afford to trade some flour, and after the harvest we should have a good surplus of grain, and we had a flour mill so I said that we could supply as much flour as they wanted within reason.

Again the problem of moving goods between the two communities cropped up. Richard would also be able to supply fish so we needed a quick way of moving stuff. The question of reinstating the track from Pickering to the York Scarborough line was raised. I said that Katie and Larry thought it could be done but it was going to take a lot of hard work.

Sid then dropped a bit of a bombshell. "We could send six captives to work on it with you."

My face must have given away my concern. "Captives?" I said.

"Yeah. We were attacked during the winter and managed to fight off a band of about thirty men and four women, again ex-prisoners. They were down to the last six when they surrendered, four men and two women. We took them prisoner but the problem was similar to yours, we couldn't just let them go. At first we were going to kill them but we were short handed and decided to offer them a choice, accept a sentence of servitude for between two and five years or die!. They had to confess to every crime they'd committed since their release and that'd be used to determine their 'time' as our slaves. If we later found out that they'd failed to tell the truth they'd be killed. Needless to say they all opted for the servitude option and were constantly reminded that if they were caught lying they faced instant death. I think, apart from Red, we'll let them stay here when their time is up, the other six have knuckled under so we could send them."

"Seven, I thought you said six"

"Yes, well the seventh is our eunuch, we caught him raping Shaz, one of our girls. He was brutal and hurt her but she survived. Again, we were going to execute him but Shaz asked to be allowed to castrate him. We assumed the castration would kill him but, by some miracle, he survived. I still remember the look on the faces of the other six as Shaz cut his balls off. He screamed and passed out, the rest were all sick. Anyway, those six can work on the project if it'll help."

I didn't see how anyone from Newsham could criticise Sid and Ron for their actions when we had executed a number of scumbags, and chased down the scumbags that attacked us.

"Don't worry, they know the score and I wouldn't send Red, the pain in the arse. I actually like your idea of splitting low level trouble makers up, maybe we could split them around the other groups if they'll have them, to avoid any future trouble."

Kelly had told Sid and Ron of our solution to the North Frodingham problems.

Sid laughed and said, "Looks like we've all had to face our share of problems."

I asked about the conditions that they were held under and Sid said, "Don't worry we feed them and they get basic care. The two women have to make themselves available for anyone that wants to fuck them and, after the novelty wore off, that's mainly the other four. They're shackled with chains and locked in at night. They work on village projects, mainly ones which require hard labour; digging the vegetable garden and new cess pits, that type of thing. Life is hard for them but it could have been a lot worse, and they do have an end in sight. They've all been given a date when they'll be freed as long as they keep their noses clean in the meantime. Red's the only one that's been given extra time since they were captured."

We then spoke about the doctors. We obviously couldn't split a husband and wife team up so the doctors would have to remain in Sleights. Sid was more than happy for them to visit the other communities. He then said, "They're short of equipment 'cos Whitby hospital was burnt down, could you take them scavenging?"

I asked if Kat could speak to them, that would be one of her projects.

It was time for the evening meal which was a communal affair. Two large lambs had been roasted and a sort of roast potato which had been made using the fat from the lambs, as well as carrots and greens. It was good and we had the chance to meet a lot of the other residents. They were a disparate bunch, heavily tattooed biker types were sitting down with the remnants of Sleight village. Everyone was getting on well together, there was laughter and joking. I noticed the women were all very attentive to the men's wants and needs. A tattooed biker woman in her twenties with long black hair and wearing a tight black leather top and trousers was sitting in the lap of a man in his fifties, dressed like a farmer, and feeding him. They were both obviously happy.

I was introduced to the doctors, a couple in their forties and I in turn introduced them to Kat and Kelly. Sid said, "Mark's said he'll help you scavenge for equipment in return for medical assistance in his communities." Kat and the two doctors were soon deep in conversation.

It was soon dark and time to retire, They had a voluntary night-time curfew, which made the job of the night watch easier. However Sid thought that things were now calm enough to dispense with the watch and curfew but everyone had got into the habit of observing it.

We stayed at Sid's house. He had two wives, both biker babes, and they showed the four of us to our quarters. One thing which struck me was the low number of children, there was one five year old boy, and two pre-teen girls, but that was all. All three had been pleased to meet Kirsty who returned at bedtime, tired but happy. Kelly settled her and we spent another hour chatting with our host about all sorts of thing. One thing which he missed was music and I said that we had limited power. He asked me if I would help them set something similar up. I would have to train someone else up on electrical stuff and told Sid it would be me, in person, and he said, "But you're the leader."