First Activation

The man pulled the revolver from behind his back and pushed a confused Greg to the front of the garage, where the bearded man tied his arms behind his back, they both forced him to his knees.

“Let your window down slightly. Let’s see if we can hear what they are saying,” I whispered to Jack.

Bernie twisted the key to activate the electrics in the vehicle. Jack pushed the button gingerly and the window slid down an inch.

“Please, I don’t know anything. What do you want?” Greg shouted.

“Tell us the location and we’ll let you go,” the man with the revolver replied.

“What location? I haven’t found anyone alive.”

“This is your last chance. I’m giving you five seconds,” the bearded man shouted.

“Please, there’s nobody left alive, I’ve…”

The overweight man raised his revolver to Greg’s forehead and fired. A red splash appeared on the white garage door as Greg slumped backwards and lay motionless on the ground.

“What the fuck?” Bernie said in quiet amazement.

The men started to look around, presumably to see if anyone had noticed the gunshot, so we ducked back down.

“Who are they looking for? Why did they kill him?” Lea panted.

“I don’t like this one bit. They executed him,” Jack said.

The Range Rover revved its engine loudly and then sped past us in the direction of the house and Jerry’s farm.

“Why did they kill a survivor?” Bernie asked.

“I don’t know who the fuck they are, but we should go and warn Jerry. He’s the only other person alive we know in the area.” I replied.

“We’ll drive to Jerry’s now. It will just have to be a surprise that Lea and I are with you,” Bernie said, sitting up.

“No, we don’t need to panic him with this story and the fact that we lied at the same time. We can drive back home and Jack and I will just cut across the fields to get to Jerry’s farm.”

“You two stay out of sight at the house, and wait for us there. We’ll take the flare gun and fire it if we see any danger coming towards you,” Jack added.

“Shouldn’t we all stick together in case there’s any trouble?” Lea asked. “Four would be better than two if we come across those people. I am coming with you to Jerry’s.”

“No, we’ll be okay,” I replied. “You stay in the house and surprise them if they come knocking. Shoot first; ask questions later. Jack and I will go on foot to Jerry’s; we won’t bump into anyone in a vehicle that way.”

Lea carried on insisting that she should come to the farm with us, but my mind was made up.

With a plan quickly formulated, Bernie sped back to the house and parked the SUV in the back garden to keep it away from the road. I took the flare gun and made sure it was loaded. Next, I checked my Glock to make sure it was ready; Jack checked his rifle.

“We’ll keep watch from the upstairs front window,” Lea said.

She disappeared with Bernie through the back door.

Jack and I moved off quickly and went straight into the fields on the other side of the road, turning right towards Jerry’s farm. We kept low as we hurried along, jumping over fences and trying to remain hidden until we reached the outskirts of Jerry’s property.

“Let’s sneak around the far side of the barn instead of just walking in,” I said to Jack. “For all we know, the Range Rover might already be there.”

“You lead the way.”

Once we reached the back of Jerry’s barn, we slowly edged our way around the side of it to give us a view of the front of Jerry’s house. Parked outside the window we had first seen Jerry through, was the black Range Rover.

“They’re already here,” I whispered.

“Can you see any movement?”

I looked around the front edge of the barn.

“I can see some figures through the window,” I said.

“Can you see what they’re doing? Are they threatening him?”

“I don’t know, it looks like they’re just talking.”

“Shall we go in and surprise them?”

If we managed to catch them off guard, then we could disarm them at gunpoint. But if things didn’t go according to plan, and they gained the upper hand in a shootout, we would be in big trouble. The bearded man has a rifle.

“Let’s just wait. They didn’t mess about before.”

“What about Jerry?” Jack said.

“We hardly know him,” I said, surprising myself with my detachment.

We barely knew Bernie and Lea, but they were now the closest thing we had to a family. Keeping that family safe was the priority for me. If we did take on these people, then I wanted to make sure we had the upper hand.

We carried on waiting, as the conversation continued inside. Five minutes later, there was movement.

“Jack, they’re leaving the room.”

My heart was pounding against my chest now, and I felt a trickle of sweat run down the side of my face.

The two men in black left the house with Jerry and they all climbed into the Range Rover.

“Jerry didn’t look under pressure or frightened. They were all just talking, he went with them willingly,” I said to Jack, as the Range Rover pulled away.

Jack’s eyes widened. He started opening and closing his mouth, but no words were coming out.

“Spit it out, quickly.”

“We told Jerry about Greg in Maybrook last night.”

“Yeah, so what?”