CHAPTER ONE
BOOKS
There are a lot of them still here in this dusty, damp corner of the building.
I stare across their spines and look to find something that I haven’t already perused, briefed or read. I’m never sure why I return them, it’s not like I’ll get fined.
I find a lot of pleasure in this place, a place that once stood firmly as a beacon of hope, learning and scholarship.
Behind me I hear the shifting and creaking of the building, as if it’s groaning out in agony. My right hand shifts to my chest, just to make sure that if I need it my pistol is ready as I am.
Turning on my heels I peer into the fog to where the noise begun, just to assure myself that there was nothing following me.
I stared for what felt like hours, the cold wind of November slicing my skin I finally decide that I am indeed alone.
Turning back to the books that I have piled next to my rucksack I decided to call it a day and start to pack them away.
I take one last look at my surroundings, it’s bizarre to believe that this was once a library, the walls high with shelves, the floor scattered with empty shells of words.
A lot of people decided that the paper would be best used as fire starters, and toilet paper.
I’ll admit I did once use a copy of Mein Kampf as my personal choice toilet paper, which gave me some strange sense of satisfaction. But that’s neither here nor there.
Slinging the rucksack over my shoulder I take one last look around to see if I had forgotten anything and made my way to the exit.
The main entrance was blocked many years ago with shelves, desks and other large, heavy items by the original owners of the library, but luckily for me, a car had smashed through one of the nearby walls, and it gave me enough room to get through if I stooped low enough.
I stepped onto the street, rubble crumbled beneath my boot making me stumble slightly, and I looked around at the city that stood before me.
Dark skies were above me and rubbish littered the streets,
The buildings were in surprisingly good condition for how deep into the city I was, but if you looked close enough you could make out the decay and occasional bullet holes in the skins of the offices and shops.
Looking at my watch I realised I had been away from home for a lot longer than usual, and knew that the others would be worried.
Who was I kidding? By now they’ve probably already divided up my clothes, food and spare gear amongst themselves…Those fuckers.
After taking one more look around to see if I had indeed been followed, I pulled the shemagh from around my neck and over my face, grabbed the goggles from my side pouch and snapped them onto my head and set off in the direction of home.
I decided it would be quicker to take Thomas Street for my route back as knowing my luck I would run into trouble getting back in time if I took Main Street like I did to get here.
Thomas Street was one of my favourite places to visit when I was younger, and as I walked along memories swarmed through me, the day I was offered my job at the local comic shop because I had a crazy photographic memory and could recall thousands of pages of data, Sitting drinking Tea with Jim at the Café… the pancakes we had there were beyond delicious, I swear I can still smell the batter and maple syrup in the air.
It’s a shame everything went to shit.
Before I knew what was going on or where I was I was back home, well… I say home, it was actually just an abandoned shop that Jim and I had stumbled upon whilst scouring the city for scrap to sell.
When we had first found it, it wasn’t much. Just a hollow mess of a building, I think it used to be a clothes store, but everything was looted a long time ago. After spending a few weeks and a lot of help and effort from friends we had cleared it out and made it look presentable.
The only problem we had then was barricading the front windows and door, luckily for us there were still lots of sand bags and rubble in the streets, even some road block walls.
We sweated and toiled on that for weeks whilst we salvaged parts from across the city.
I got to the door and slammed my fist against it a few times, and said loudly “Yo Jim, It’s me Carl, let me in bro.”
As I waited, I looked up and down the street looking into each of the other derelict shops and buildings, swearing on any god above I could sense something watching me.
With that my nerves got the better of me and I slowly reached for my chest to pull my pistol from its holster, chambered with 9mm hollow point rounds, the FN 5-7 was one of my best friends when I was nervous because as long as it was on my rig or in my hand I always felt a little easier, I raised it to shoulder, with my finger off the trigger just in case, I scanned the street again hoping that nobody had followed me.
Behind me the door was still shut, so I shuffled back and slammed my fist against it again.
“Jim, are you in there? C’mon man it’s starting to get cold out here” I said, raising my voice slightly on the pronouncing of cold, which I hope he would realise I meant I was getting tweaked for no reason.
After a few moments of silence and another look around I decided that I was safe and holstered my pistol,
Just as I did so I heard the familiar creaking of the door behind me as Jim opened the hatch to make sure it was me.
“The fuck you want Carl?” He mumbled through the door,
“Uhm… To be let in stupid.” I replied.
“Uh… uh… okay man, just give me a minute or two I need to puts some clothes on man” he said as if I had inconvenienced him somehow.
Two minutes later he came back and opened the door and let me in,
“hey man you said you’d be gone for a little while longer, I have company” he said as I walked into the room.
I knew exactly what he meant by this…. God damned prostitutes.
“Jesus fucking Christ Jim, what did I tell you about bringing Hookers back here?! You know you can’t trust them, god knows who they’re working for!”
He started to fumble an apology, but I walked away before it could escape his lips.
“Look, do what you need to do then get her out of here.” I said back to him as I walked into the room I had claimed as my own.
I got to the door, punched in my password for the lock and walked in, I slumped into an arm chair and just felt all the aches and pains spasm across my back and legs.
It had been a long day and I was glad to finally get out of my skirmish gear and into something more comfortable.
I untied my boots and pulled them off, the air stinging my skin as if it was one massive wound; I threw them in to the foot locker at the end of my bed.
I sat in silence for a few minutes before standing up and walking over to the massive floor to ceiling mirror in the corner,
Looking at myself, dressed head to toe in salvaged clothes and body armour from what used to be an army surplus shop, I remember a time that I thought I was a bad ass for dressing like this, but now I dress this way through necessity.
A necessity brought on by the stupidity of one group of people.
YOU ARE READING
Black Branches
AdventureAfter rioting in London precipitates the events that will eventually destroy Britain, Carl is thrown into turmoil. Will he carry on looking out for himself and his friends, or will he take on a bigger challenge against all that oppose his way of lif...
