Chapter 8: Winter, Hunters and Gatherers

We buried Phil and Tim at first light the next morning with the whole village gathered around. I said a few words and then left Michelle and Marie to fill in the graves. Michelle was crying and Marie was comforting her as I left, that was certainly a turnaround from the previous days attitude.

I started getting ready for our trip to follow the attackers tracks. Graham had rounded up ten of us including Dan, Stella and Katie.

Kelly gave me a big hug as we set off then watched with Harry and Emma as we trudged through the snow away from the village.

Forty men leave a pretty clear track and this lead us into Bridlington and though the town. Before long we were following the tracks out to the south and when we got to the Wilsthorpe roundabout, they veered off into the industrial estate. They all centred on a large building attached to what used to be a sweet factory.

There was a guy standing at the entrance stamping his feet and rubbing his hands. Graham handed me the binoculars, the guard looked pissed off to me.

Graham got us all to pull back and took up position behind a wall. I knew he was a good shot and I also knew it was at the limit of the range for his rifle, but it was a still day. I felt nothing for the target as Graham took aim. He pulled the trigger and the man dropped. Nothing happened for a while then two men came out, saw the body, and went wild. They were running around the building, searching behind abandoned cars and bins.

The thought of a marksman hadn't crossed their minds. They eventually went back in then came out again with another man who was carrying an automatic weapon. He looked around and went back in. One of the original two then dragged the body back inside. His mate stood looking around for a few seconds, it was a fine but bitterly cold day. Big mistake. One gunshot, one man drops. Several men came out as soon as they heard the shot and started shooting wildly, and then went back in again

We must have been waiting for at least five minutes, we were cold and cramped, but we kept down and out of sight. Six more came out and made their way up the road. We had all taken cover behind walls and abandoned cars. Graham made the signal to shoot and we all took aim. Again, our training paid off, the group walked right past Graham and into our line of fire. We let them pass us and attacked them from behind, that way they would have to run the gauntlet of our fire if they wanted to return to their building. Twelve shots left six dead.

Then 'automatic' man came out again shouting, "Where the fuck are you!" He raked the area with automatic fire but he was shooting at shadows and we all just kept down. Eventually his weapon either jammed or ran out of ammo. Graham took aim and dropped him with one shot.

It was quiet for a few minutes and then Graham called me forwards. "We can't chance going in, we'll just have to wait."

Well, we waited for well over an hour before the door opened again. Graham took aim, but then told me to check with my binoculars, and exclaimed "It's a woman!"

I looked and said, "Long blonde hair, her hands are bound and she looks to be scared shitless!"

He called out, "Who are you?"

She didn't answer at first and then called out, "They're all dead. Please help us."

"It may be a trap," Graham said quietly and then shouted, "Come to me." It was now clear that the woman was bare foot and hobbled as well. She shuffled over slowly. When we saw her we were horrified, she was just wearing a dress, obviously naked underneath, and looked malnourished.

When she reached us she clutched at Graham and wouldn't let go, she was now sobbing uncontrollably. Eventually we managed to find out that there were twelve women in the building. The gang had been raping and using them as slaves. Anyone who resisted was beaten.

We all thought she was telling the truth. She said there was only one man left in the building and he was seriously injured. He and another man arrived back about five days ago, they told stories of an encounter with a well supplied army just outside the town. There had been over sixty in the gang, and of the forty who left that morning only those two returned.

An appalling sight greeted us when we took the woman back into the building. There were a dozen beds arranged around the building and each cot had a woman chained to it. As we entered there was silence and then they all started crying and shouting.

I told each of our group to take one women, free her and talk to her. This took a good hour and everyone told the same story. The gang moved from town to town rounding up survivors, shooting the men, stealing any food stores and raping the women. The youngest and most attractive were then kidnapped and forced to act as slaves.

"What the fuck are we going to do with this lot?" Graham asked. "Half of them have open wounds on their backs from the whipping, they have all been raped and they look malnourished."

"Well, at least we know where our attackers came from and what they planned for us. As for this lot, I really don't know."

I called Dan and Stella over. "You can't just leave them here," said Stella. "You might just as well take them outside and shoot them. We'll have to get them home."

I wasn't happy at the thought of a dozen extra women for the village, but I didn't see any alternative.

"OK," I shouted. "Would all the released captives please come here. I know you've all been through a lot but we haven't come prepared to deal with a dozen refugees. If you're going to survive you need to put what has happened in here behind you. All the gang are dead, including the injured one. His injuries were way beyond our limited medical facilities, and he was going to die a slow painful death. I need you all to co-operate, show our people where any stores and guns are kept. Do any of you have any medical training, even basic first aid?"

One woman stepped forward. "I was a ward sister at Hull Royal Infirmary before the city collapsed."

"OK. I want you to have a look at everyone's injuries and let me know if anyone can't manage a five mile walk."

I then spoke to the group "Have any of you got anywhere to go locally?"

There was a general murmuring and headshaking, and two started crying, saying that they had been abducted in Bridlington, their stores and belongings had been stolen or destroyed and their partners killed to stop them trying to escape.

I then addressed the group again, "Each of you will buddy up with one of our group and go outside to rob the bodies of all clothing. None of you are dressed for a long walk and Marks and Spencers are closed, so I'm sorry but that's the only clothing available. You may have to pack the boots with socks and things to get them to fit but that'll be better than getting frostbite."

There was a general murmuring but no one moved. "OK, you," I pointed at the nearest girl, a redhead with big boobs, "go with Dan." I pointed Dan out. The rest then moved forwards and were soon paired up. A girl in her late twenties with long blonde hair latched on to me, the one who came out to ask us for help.

Everyone went outside and started pulling clothing and boots off. The girls who were barefoot waited for their buddy to find a pair of shoes and then joined the rest of us. It took about an hour to get everyone bundled up against the cold, and some of the women had been badly beaten, it was going to be a long slow walk home.

My blonde 'buddy' then started to tell me of her experiences and it was harrowing. Most of them were from Hull. As we had guessed the men had mostly been released from Hull prison when the collapse started. Jackie had been enticed off the street near the station; she had been trying to feed herself in the same way as a lot of women were during the collapse. At first she didn't think it was too bad, she got a square meal every day and, because she was attractive, the men liked her and their leader took her as his private bed warmer. But then food got short, the beatings started and sex turned into gang rapes. The gang moved north, raping and pillaging along the way. They would break into a building each night, tie the women up, leave a couple of guards, and go out to try and find food. If any of the women resisted they were whipped, and three were killed. Every so often the men would return with more women.

She then said, "They then heard a rumour that there was a village with food and electricity near here and they went looking for it but met a group of soldiers, got into a fight and lost. Apparently there were at least a hundred soldiers."

"A hundred soldiers," I said, grinning. "They were lying to cover up their defeat. We're the army, a village of fifty odd people, but well armed and determined to survive. They obviously didn't want to admit they were defeated by a bunch of yokels."

Jackie looked at me and said, "Never ... Anyway, where do you fit in?"

"I'm the leader, my wife's the deputy leader and Graham is in charge of defence. We had another visit from the gang two days ago and lost a villager to a lucky shot. Graham decided to follow them and try to finish them off. The way they were dressed had convinced him they hadn't come far."

It had taken an hour to get everyone prepared for the journey and we had two hours of daylight left. I hurried everyone up. Then Dan came up to me and handed me a bar of chocolate. Claire, the girl he was buddied with, knew where they had stashed a box of chocolate bars. I asked him to give every girl one to eat.

I then went and spoke to Graham. "We're not going to make quick progress, do you want me to go on ahead and prepare things, get some sledges out to help the weaker and injured ones?" The nurse had told us that no one had life threatening injuries, but there were a lot of minor injuries from the beatings and rapes which would make our progress slow.

Graham said this seemed to be a good idea. I asked if he was going back through Brid or taking the direct route home, and he said, "I'll keep to the well trodden track, it'll be easier going." I said I was going straight back, it would save over a mile of walking.

I hefted my back pack on and started up the road while the others were still getting the main group organised. Jackie started to walk with me. I told her to go back to the main group but she just carried on saying, "I've had it easier than the others, being the leaders favourite, I'll be able to keep up with you."

I immediately suspected that she wished to retain the role of 'leader's favourite'. She was obviously a bright girl and very attractive. I wondered what her reaction would be when she saw Kelly, who was younger than she was. Anyway, I didn't want an argument so I let her walk with me but I wondered if she would keep up.

Jackie quizzed me about Newsham all the way back. I told her some of what we were doing but I didn't go on about defences. I set a sharp pace but she kept up. At one point there were some very deep drifts across the road but we helped each other through them. We then rejoined the well trodden track and in about an hour and a quarter we were approaching Newsham.

As we approached the watchpost I was challenged by Harry and answered with our agreed code. He phoned my arrival through and within a few minutes I saw Kelly running towards me. I gave her an extra long and deep kiss then and said to Jackie, "Meet, Kelly, my wife and the deputy leader." I watched Jackie's face and it clouded momentarily. I told Kelly what had gone on, that there were eleven more women on their way and we needed to get some sledges out to meet them and help the weaker ones.

Kelly took charge of Jackie saying, "I'll drop you off with Mary, she's the one that lost her husband to the lucky shot."

Kelly and I then went and roused everyone with a sledge and got them out to meet the incoming group. As we were hurrying down the road I said to Kelly, "The good news is, there's a nurse amongst them, the bad news is we'll have another dozen single young women."

Kelly looked at me and said, "Twelve women, there must be one amongst them that lights your fuse."

"Maybe, but I'm happy with what I have," I said as I looked at her. "Kelly Hammond is more than enough women for me."

"Mark, I love you dearly. Even before the collapse I could have seen us together, in spite of the age difference, but I realise that we have to work differently now. Men are in short supply, we have reduced the numbers by sixty or so, not that any of them would have been desirable. You need to take a second wife. As leader you'll set the example and the others will follow. Most of the women realise it's inevitable, given the gross mismatch in numbers. I'll share and I have fantasies about threesomes. So go with the flow."

I was surprised, I knew Kelly had been hinting for a while at dealing with the excess of women by forming multiple partnerships, with us taking the lead, but this was the first time she came out with it directly.

I answered her by putting the ball back into her court. "Find a woman you are comfortable with, and introduce her to me."

"OK, but don't agree to her unless she lights your fuse."

"Well you know what turns me on."

"Yes. Big boobs, cuddly and lusty."

"Exactly!"

"Well I already had someone in mind, Linda, and I can see that you like her, and would love her, but she doesn't light your fuse, so maybe I should look over this bunch."

The conversation was cut short as we saw the main group coming around the bend and we hurried to meet them. The light was failing now, their progress had been even slower than I thought it would be.

It turned out that three of the women were in a lot of pain; two had been whipped badly and the other one had been burnt on the soles of her feet for trying to escape. We loaded these three onto sledges and got everyone's back packs onto the other three sledges. This speeded up progress and we were back in the village just over half an hour later. By now word had spread and everyone was in the steam engine shed waiting for us when we arrived.

I made a quick announcement in regard to what we had found today. I told everyone that leaving the women to fend for themselves would have resulted in a slow death from starvation and exposure. I also pointed out that there was a nurse amongst the group.

I then asked for volunteers to take the women in and everyone volunteered. We just allocated the women to the villagers as they came forward and in half an hour they were all on their way to someone's home. Kelly surprised me by offering a bed to the blonde woman that walked in with me providing she shared with Linda. I wasn't very happy about it.

I talked to her very quietly once we went to bed and she said, "She was their leader's 'bed warmer' before and I want to keep an eye on her. It's easy to do that this way. She'll no doubt make a play to bed you, you didn't mention the penalty for shagging a husband behind his wife's back."

"Well, I didn't think I needed to, not after what they'd been through."

"You do, and quickly. Hormones rule, OK!"

"OK. I'll do it tomorrow."

"I'm glad there's a nurse amongst them. Do you know if any of the girls are pregnant?"

"No I don't. I suppose that's something else we need to find out."

We then had a gentle sex session and fell asleep quickly. I think we were all relieved that at least one source of attacks had been neutralised.

The following morning we rounded up the newcomers and assembled them in the steam engine shed. A number of benches and chairs had appeared so the group were sat around talking. Most of them were dressed in various cast-offs that people had given.

I walked in with Kelly and we asked Jackie to join the group, I didn't want her to think she was any different from the rest.

I started our planned talk.

"Good morning everyone, I'm Mark Jennings, the leader of Newsham, and this is Kelly, my wife and deputy leader. We were elected as leaders at the start of the collapse by the rest of the villagers. First of all I'll outline what we hope to achieve here, and then we'll speak to each of individually."

I then outlined what we had achieved to date and our plans to form a self-sufficient village community.

Up until now we had not really had any rules but now was the time and I went through them.

"No one will use violence to settle disputes.

"No one will steal.

"Everyone will help with village projects in return for basic food supplies." I then explained that we had good reserves of flour, and quite a bit of other food stockpiled.

"Any woman who tries to initiate any sexual contact with the husband of another woman, without the wife's consent will have her head shaved. We have a surplus of women at the moment and I will not have anyone creeping around and causing problems.

"We will all treat each other with respect, we all have different skills, needs and weaknesses, if we start fighting amongst ourselves our energies will be wasted. If we are going to survive as a community everyone will have to contribute, not only with labour but by supporting and being nice to those around them. We are all from different backgrounds but anything that happened in the past is no longer relevant, we will stand or fall by our own efforts, and there is no one to bail us out if we fuck up."

Kelly then spoke, "OK, will everyone abide by those rules while they live in Newsham?"

There was a general mumbling and everybody seemed happy.

"We have to get the formal consent from the rest of the villagers before we offer any of you a permanent home. If any of you want to try and find family members or return to where you lived before the gangs took over we will help. We will encourage everyone to remain here until the spring in any case, even if you then want to move on."

I stood again, "OK, that's all for now. We have given each of you a piece of paper with a time on it, please come and see us at Oak Tree house at the time and we will talk to each of you individually. There is a resident's meeting tonight and we will see you all again afterwards."

The rest of the day was taken up with these individual interviews.

We asked a number of stock questions and Dawn helped us record the information; name, age, date of birth, occupation and skills, that sort of thing.

The youngest was sixteen, the oldest thirty nine, and they had a wide range of skills and abilities.

Every one of them wanted to stay in Newsham, which was hardly surprising.

Three of them were pregnant and another three thought they might be.

By three o'clock we had finished.

Kelly and I sat down, and I asked Dawn to remain to discus our findings and thoughts.

Four women caught our attention.

Jackie, the gang leader's 'bed warmer', was going to be a handful. She was bright, in an unfocussed sort of way. She had dropped out of school at fifteen, she was now twenty six, and had been working the streets as a prostitute at seventeen. She admitted that she had been a drug user in her late teens but had been 'clean' for six years. For two years, up until the collapse, she had graduated to working as an escort, "Better money and less risky," is how she put it.

Sophie, the nurse from Hull, had been abducted whilst trying to buy food. She was the nearest thing we had to medical help. She was overwhelmed by the role that was being thrust on her. She was thirty two and had lost her husband and three year old boy to flu in Hull. She was plain in looks but had a good figure. She had short brown hair and a ready smile. She was going to need everyone's help and support.