“Oh!” Jackie turned back to the pile of weapons and resumed her work. With her back to him, she said, “You’ll probably laugh, but I feel much safer with you here. Last night you didn’t show an ounce of fear. It’s been a while since I’ve been around a man who knows how to look after himself.”
“There are other men here.”
“Ha! Philip might know his way around a sandwich knife, and Steven can butcher a rabbit, but none of us here has any experience when it comes to fighting.”
“And you need a little bit of rough like me around the place to help you sleep at night, huh?”
Jackie didn’t allow his offence to penetrate her. Instead, she smirked. “I suppose you could say something like that. Perhaps you might just stay a while and help us get set up.”
Ted grimaced. “I really have to—”
“Just spend one more night before you go and make any silly decisions, Ted. You don’t know us yet. Allow people to at least give you their thanks. If you still want to leave tomorrow morning, I’ll pack a bag full of supplies and see you on your way. Deal?”
Ted was still grimacing. Yet, as he wilted under the woman’s pleading stare, he found himself nodding. Sighing in defeat, he said, “Fine, I’ll spend one more night here, so I can at least help you people learn your arses from your elbows. After that, I’m back on the road and you people are on your own.”
Jackie offered out her hand. “Thank you, Ted.”
Ted shook the woman’s hand reluctantly. He had a bad feeling things were turning south.
20
TED
Ted was amazed by the workshop he found. A single story, flat-roofed building made of green-painted steel siding, it was located directly behind the log cabin. The smell in the area was foul, and he realised the camp’s latrine was also nearby. Pulling his shirt over his nose, he stepped inside the workshop. He found a workbench and all manner of tools. A petrol-powered ride-on lawn mower sat in the corner, and a pair of chainsaws hung on hooks. Best of all, he found a set of wood axes and a two-man saw. While the chainsaws would have been the easiest way to bring down trees, they would attract too much attention—and were of better use as weapons. Therefore, the two-man saw and the wood axes were the tools about which he was most excited. He took them out of the workshop in a wheelbarrow.
“Oi! Where yow think yow going with that stuff?”
Ted stopped and lowered the wheelbarrow to the ground. Before him stood a short, stocky man with a pudgy face. Ted was taken aback. “I-I was hoping to get some of the older kids cutting down trees.”
“Why?”
Ted cleared his throat and tried to stand tall before this strange fellow who unnerved him so. “Well, for one thing, we could build a fishing weir, which would prevent the need to spend all day casting lines over the lake. You could move up behind the castle walls and come down each morning to check the traps. Cut down enough trees and you could even fashion a pike wall and booby traps to protect the perimeter. Skies the limit. Wood is a marvellous thing.”
“How yow know all that?
“I was a builder. And I read an SAS survival guide once that I guess must have stayed with me.”
The other man squinted like it hurt him to think. Everything about him was suspecting and accusatory. “Where did yow and that soldier come from last night? How did yow find us?”
“We were hiding in the forest and smelt smoke. Then we heard a bell ringing, so we came to help.”
The combative little man folded his arms and looked cross. The words out of his mouth were begrudging. “We would ‘ave been stuck in the mud without yow, I admit it. These are good people, but they’ve been living in cloud cuckoo land. I dread ta think what woulda ‘appened if yow hadn’t saved us.”
“Oh,” said Ted, surprised to hear sense, and what almost sounded like a thank you. “Well, yeah, you’re welcome. I told Jackie I would stay a day to help make this place more defensible, but then I’m heading off. I’m Ted.”
“I’m Frank. Was me what rang the castle bell last night. I didn’t see the ugly blighters until they were right on top of me. It was dark, and the grass is long. Hey, yow know what would make sense? Cutting back the trees outside the castle walls so we have a better view.”
“I agree,” said Ted, finding himself nodding in absolute agreement. “You should do that, Frank. Move the camp into the castle and entrench yourselves behind those walls. Next time the demons attack, they’ll have to get past three-feet of stone to get at you.”
Frank let his cynical expression drop and allowed himself to smile. It made such a difference to the man’s face that he transformed into a warm and friendly person. “Ted, yow am a man after me own heart. No bleeder listens to me though. Until last night, I don’t even think they believed what had happened to the rest of the world.”
“They’ll listen now,” said Ted. “You need to make them listen, Frank. You’re the first person I’ve spoken to that understands—”
Frank cut him off. “That we’re at war. And that the best place to be during a war is inside a blinkin’ castle.”
Ted nodded. “The workshop is full of tools. There’s plenty that could be done to make this place a tough nut to crack.”
“I know it. We’ve raided the workshop already for shovels and weapons. In fact, the shovels are in use right now. We’re burying our dead.” He folded his arms and tapped his foot angrily. “Two kids and poor Carrie-Anne, can yow believe it? If only we’d been better prepared…” He shook his head and sighed. “Anyway,
