Текст книги "Underwood"

Автор книги: Colin Griffiths

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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

Chapter 5

The wooden floor sports hall was full of the residents of Underwood, when the courts stood all able bodied residents were expected to attend, most did to scared not to, but some didn’t, that was mainly those who were not bothered with the consequences, to the far end of the sports hall was a stage, beside the stage was a metal cage, raised from the ground on a temporary platform, it had brought back a lot of bad memories for some of those that stood there and watched, the others had somehow managed to blank it from their minds, but sometimes it would come back to haunt them, inside the cage stood Peter Ford, the newest resident of Underwood who had the audacity to punch the ruling sheriff, and as people looked on most had only a secret admiration for the man that stood before them, some wished they had the same courage as the man who stood caged like a wild animal, in the short time Peter Ford had been in Underwood he had gained a lot of respect as the news of him hitting the sheriff spread, he had gained a lot of friends and admirers, but it was the enemy’s he may have had that will come back to haunt him, that’s what everyone was thinking in the hall, there were no martyrs in Underwood, just sacrificial lambs.

Peter had been taken to the hall by the two deputies who had taken him to his cell, this time there was no fight, and the deputy’s showed signs of remorse, at the time Peter noticed their vulnerability, the look of defeat on their faces that they both showed, not comrades in arms, more like comrades facing defeat, surrendering from the last battle, wondering why they were fighting the war at all, Peter stood in his cage, staring down at the onlookers, and the eyes that he did meet always turned away, he gripped the bars tightly in an act of defiance as he looked around the hall, then his grip loosened and the tension running through his body released as he saw them and his heart sunk and he felt a knotting in the pit of his stomach, at the back of the hall stood beside Craig Jones was Peter’s family, Eileen, Nathan and Lily, he could see the fear etched on their faces, but at least they were alive and seemingly well, he just wanted to be with them, to reassure them, to protect them, he wanted to reach out just to caress their faces, most of all he needed to plan his way out of the crazy world he somehow found himself in, he wasn’t going to mess this up, he couldn’t, his family depended on it.

Craig had, as promised gone to look in on Peter’s wife and children, and it tugged at his heart strings to find them sat in the house shaking in fear, he could see the tear stains on their faces, a family that had simply walked into another world, a world not of their own, a world they did not deserve to be in, Craig had tried to assure them as much as he could that everything would be okay, but he hadn’t believed it himself, not for a long time had he believed it, and he knew the three he talked to believed not one word of his reassurance, and for that moment he put himself part of the blame for creating this horrible town. he hoped there would never be any new residents and they would all just die off and this world would disappear, but there had been, a family taken from their own world into the world of Underwood, with all its torment and horror, he had escorted them to the centre to where Peter would be, that’s all he could do, he just hoped he had done the right thing, to have a father and husband die is one thing, to watch them die was completely off the scale.

The two deputy’s stood in front of the large desk that sat on the stage, Sandra Skellam and Dylan Williams, the towns 2 deputy’s appointed by the sheriff, they bore no arms, handcuffs and a baton the tools of their particular trade, but they didn’t need anything else, the fear of the person they worked for would make most people think twice about committing any wrongdoing, the consequences were just too great, it wasn’t a job they chose, it was a job they were given.

In the field beside the centre lay a dying fire, where a funeral had taken place earlier in the day, where the body had been laid on the bonfire and set alight, there was no grace or respect, no words of prayers or comfort, no family to weep for them, as they too had died during the past years, any tears by those who looked on were hidden, it was just a body burnt like a Guy Fawkes on a bonfire, or what was remained of it, as it was found on the edge of the woods with the bottom half of the torso missing, just another person trying to flee the terrors of Underwood.

The hall stood silent and the air somehow grew cold as Philip Lenan, Underwood’s judge and jury took to the stage, Philip had been the judge in Underwood since it was created, along with the vicar and sheriff, they were the rulers of Underwood, they were the law, the creators, and the rule makers. The vicar and the sheriff were not in attendance at today’s hearing, the judge had never failed to do what was right, and he would do what was right this time, it would be short, sharp and decisive, there was no time for anything more, that was his style, there was no need for a jury, his word was final, they nicknamed him “the judge of death.”

Philip Lenan was of the same build as the other rulers of the town, he also gave off the same aura of fear, he was clean shaven and extremely well presented, underneath the wig he adorned for the courts, was a fine head of brown hair, and as the other rulers appeared to do, as he sat he rubbed his chin with his fingers and his thumb, he looked around he didn’t ask for silence for his presence demanded it, to the residents of Underwood he was the one they feared most, he was the one that determined who lived, who died, and the most fearful ruling, who would be sent to the woods, it had a sentiment of the town congregating for a hanging, except those that gathered did not want to see no hanging, they did not want to see anyone sent to the woods, they wanted peace and quiet, no longer wanting normality as no one could remember what normal was anymore.

Philip shuffled some papers in front of him, although he didn’t need papers, he knew the charge against the man in the Cage, he knew that insubordination could not be tolerated, his was a professional organisation and looking professional was paramount to him, it was only achieved by years and years of discipline and training.

His voice was deep and loud and could be heard at the back of the hall, some of the 200 or so people shivered as he spoke, not for the first time had they shivered at the sound of his voice.

‘Peter Ford, you have been charged with insubordination and striking a police officer, how do you plead’

His words ran cold to everyone that could hear.

His family huddled each other, unsure what world they were really in, if they were to ask someone, no one would really come up with an answer.

Every single eye in that room went towards Peter, and all Peter could think about was how the hell he had landed up in this kangaroo court, it still wasn’t real, he was somehow expecting it all to end and someone explain to him that it had all been a mistake, but here he was in an iron cage like a wild animal waiting to be sentenced for protecting his family, Philip’s stare was cold and challenging, he was expecting defiance, Peter scanned the room, wondering how the hell he had become a holiday maker to a caged man awaiting sentence, it felt like he had gone to sleep and woken up in the wrong century, he wanted to shout, scream swear and tell them how wrong they all were, and that someone was going to pay and as he glanced around his eyes locked on a man in his 50’s, he was stood no further than 3 feet from the cage he was kept in, no one stood by him, the man was alone, he appeared to want to attract Peter’s attention, the look on this man’s face was distinctive in a way that Peter felt drawn to, the man squinted his eyes and nodded, he mouthed the word Peter thought he wanted him to say, and he said it.

‘guilty’ said Peter as he faced the judge, as if the words were not his own, as if the words were given by the man who stared at him from the crowd, and the tension in the body of the man in the crowd seemed to lift, and suddenly there was relief on the faces of the people who stood looking at him, Eileen crumbled to her knees as Craig held her, Lily hugged Nathan, with tears streaming down her cheeks.

‘No’ she screamed, ‘he’s not guilty my dad hasn’t done anything’ she tried to make her way through the crowd until Craig held her back, all eyes fell upon the grief stricken teenager,

the judge eyed Peter, it had been their first resident in a long time, he looked in fine fettle, thought the judge, and the wenches that were with him looked in fine shape, particularly the young pretty one, it had been a good day for Underwood, the best catch they had for decades.

‘Is there any mitigation’ he asked Peter, again Peters eyes met the same man who whispered the words for him to say,

‘I apologise sir, I am new to the community and did not know any better, but I will learn from my mistake’, he sounded confident and convincing, if not scared.

Philip Lenan smiled, he liked it when they bowed down to his power, and ‘this one knows who is boss’ he thought, ‘and we need a good plumber’ he let a smile form on his lips, the next part was the bit he liked most.

‘I sentence you to 10 lashes’ he said, still grinning, the crowd gasped, they had never heard of this punishment before, who would administer them, Peter shook with dread and fear, he wanted to protest the man in his fifties put his hands to his head.

‘Suspended’ added the judge, and he grinned as he said it,

‘Case closed’ he added, he had had his fun for today he enjoyed that, he thought the fear he saw in the prisoners eyes were enough punishment this time, but it felt good to the judge to make him sweat, the two deputy’s opened the cage and gestured for Peter to leave, Philip Lenan stood and left the hall, it was then Peter noticed the sheer size of the man, and as Philip left he stared at Peter, grinning, and as the crowd dispersed, relieved that there was going to be no public lashing or hanging, at least not on this day, Peter ran towards his family, grateful to be reunited as he hugged them and saw that they were all well, and for that moment Peter thought their nightmare was over, he thought they would be set free, he didn’t know it had only just begun.

‘Where the hell are we dad’ asked Lily as she wept and hugged her father, Nathan clung on to his leg as if he would never let go, Eileen was just pleased to have him by her side so they could try to sort this mess out, she needed him now more than ever, she didn’t realise how much they all depended on him.

‘It will be okay’ he told Lily as he hugged her, he doubted his own words and that’s what scared him most.

‘They’ve given us a house’ Eileen told him as they went to leave, outside Peter noticed the man in his fifties, the one who helped him, he shouted,

‘Excuse me’ at the man, Tony Griffiths turned and saw Peter standing there, their eyes locked and a smile drew on Tony’s face,

‘Thank you’ Peter said as he held out his hand to shake it,

‘No problem’ smiled Tony as he shook his hand,

‘What would have happened if I pleaded not guilty?’

‘Don’t ask’ said Tony ‘I’ll see you about’ he added

‘My names Peter’

‘I know it is’ he smiled, ‘mines Tony’

as he walked away, the evening was drawing in and for the first time since he had been there Peter spanned his surroundings, all he could see was trees, the town was in a circle of trees, and as he walked to his new home with his family, he wondered what was in the woods that everyone seemed so scared about, because if they were ever going to get out of the place they were imprisoned in, the woods seemed the only escape, as the roads seem to disappear.

When they got to the place they were now to call home, on the table, was their medical appointments for the morning, alongside a bag of tools were a list of the plumbing jobs Peter had to do in the afternoon.

52 year old Tony Griffiths walked home to his flat above the garage and car lot he built over the years, thankful at least the  guy in the cage had the sense to plead guilty and apologise, the sun was setting and as always the trees stood out from the sunset, it was at night they appeared to come alive, they would always sway in the evening, hear the wind whistling through the trees even when the night was still, but the storms were the worse, the storm of the magnitude of only a day ago, where the landscape around the town would change, like either the trees were spinning and the town still, or the other way around, he never quite got which one, but when you would wake up from the storm, the view you held from your windows was not there anymore, it would be replaced with another view, still of trees, always trees.

All he hoped for is that one day after a storm he would wake up and instead of the trees that surrounded them and lay home to whatever it was that lived there, there would be a road, a road to freedom, a road out of Underwood, that was the only reason he still lived.

As he opened the gates of his car lot and looked at the backdrop behind it, he hoped this view would last for a long time, because if it didn’t, all it would mean is that there were more lambs to the slaughter, and like most of the residents he wasn’t sure he could live with that.

He locked his gates, opened up his garage, he looked at the Avensis that stood in it, a hoist above the bonnet, he bit his bottom lip as he thought of the family it once belonged to, and like he did most nights took a bottle of homebrew out of the fridge and sat in his patio chair in the yard, watching the world go by, the small world of Underwood, watching the people walking home, some would wave and he waived back, some would stare as they walked by his lot, maybe envious of his job, maybe looking at the cars wondering if they would ever drive a car, he didn’t know why some people would ogle him, maybe they were just scared and that was the only expression they could use, he was the only mechanic in underwood, the only one with the skills needed to maintain the bus and the 3 police cars, the only vehicles in working order in the town, the only vehicles allowed to be in working order, that was part of his job, making sure no other vehicles worked, he also maintained the water pumps and generators, but the work was easy, the rewards handsome, in normal circumstances it would be a good life, but this wasn’t normal circumstances, this was Underwood, ‘One way in, no way out’ he told himself then he smiled and shivered at the same time.

It was a nice night as the trees swayed against the still night, and the moon shone through the trees, a perfect evening in another world, a perfect setting for a romantic evening, he thought about the man who had just escaped 10 lashings, he seemed a strong man, but more importantly he appeared to be a man of strong character, and that’s what would be needed if they were ever going to survive. He sipped his homebrew, ‘maybe we may see some light at the end of the tunnel’ he thought.

He went and got another bottle of homebrew and sat back in his chair, staring at the night, staring at the trees, recalling distant memories and trying to forget the ones that hurt the most, just like he had done for as long as he could remember, and like every other night he tried not to shed a tear as those hurtful memories returned, most nights he failed and the tears flowed, but not tonight, he allowed himself a wry smile, he thought things might be about to change.

The four new residents of a Town Called Underwood, a town hidden somewhere in the woods of South Wales, settled into their new three bedroom semidetached, concrete built home in a close they called Hawthorne, there cases had now been delivered and it was nice to have a change of clothes ,as they unpacked their cases, hanging them up in the wardrobes of the bedrooms did not seem real, they somehow thought there stay was not going to be a short one, Peter showered first, he felt dirty being stuck in that filthy cell, he fiddled with the shower head, the temperature was warm and the stream of water was weak, but he let it flow over his naked body as if it was washing the memories of today away, but he knew it would take more than just Luke warm water to do that, he was still trying to come to terms with what was happening, he still couldn’t believe the phenomenon that they had experienced had actually happened, it was like he was in the middle of a comic book about some paranormal activity, he was still trying to convince himself that there was a road out of here somewhere, or a path through the woods, the woods couldn’t just go on forever but every time he mentioned or thought of the woods, there was a sense of fear, he didn’t understand that, how that had been instilled in him, but he would have to find out why the woods were so sacred if they were ever to get out of here, he kept recalling the sign he read when they first come across the place, the letters that were crossed out, ‘there’s got to be a way out’ he told himself ‘there got to be’ the water soon grew cold and Peter barely noticed.

‘What’s happening mum’ asked Lily for what was probably the tenth time that day, she lay in her single bedroom, having showered and changed into her night clothes, the room was adorned with pink curtains and cushions, a pastel coloured flowered wallpaper set on the walls, a white dressing table and mirror, with a single white wardrobe, Eileen sat on the edge of the bed, still unable to give her daughter the answers she craved,

‘I don’t know sweetheart’ she answered ‘but your dad’s here now and he will sort it’

Lily screwed her face up, she sat up in the bed, ‘they were going to fucking whip him mum’ Eileen hugged her, ignoring the bad language on this occasion, she guessed she was entitled to swear,

‘No they weren’t, it was just one man, the others didn’t want that’

‘I bet if the vicar was there he would have wanted it’ she instantly shot back, ‘and that sheriff’ she spat out the words, ‘I don’t want to be here mum’ she cried, Eileen held her until she fell asleep, and when she knew she was definitely asleep, she left her room and let the tears flow, cry was all that she seemed able to do at that moment.

She looked into Nathans room, he was fast asleep, but she could see his sleep was restless as she watched him turning in his bed, he was sweating and she pulled the duvet from him, it was a hot evening, she went to open the window, but paused with her hand on the handle, she left it closed, she didn’t want the windows opened to a world she did not understand, she wondered how they came to be in a place where you were too scared to open the windows, she also wondered what it was they were scared of.

Peter had sat with him and held him until he had fallen asleep, stroking his head and trying to help him find assurance as he did so, he knew Nathan was having difficulty dealing with this, his young mind failing to take it all in, he wondered how any child could, because he couldn’t take it all in himself.

Peter and Eileen come downstairs and sat in the living room, watching the television that showed no TV programmes, it just showed videos of Underwood, over and over again, even if there was something on, neither of them would have been able to watch it, they had so many questions to ask each other, but neither did, as they knew no answers would be forthcoming, and as they both looked at their mobile phones, without any signal and the battery life draining out of them, and no suitable electric socket to take their adaptors, they knew it was useless, the outside world did not exist to those that lived in this town, all there was, was a place called Underwood.

And they were there.

‘What do we do’ asked Eileen as they both sat on the sofa, buried in their thoughts, a question her own daughter had asked so many times.

Peter didn’t have to give it much thought ‘tomorrow we have a medical and I go to work’ he told her, he turned around to stare at her and their eyes met, but neither set of eyes told anything other than fear.

And at that time it all sounded so normal.

The medical centre was situated just behind the Underwood Social, it looked newer then the concrete buildings in the town, it was built of brick and looked modern in its construction compared to the other buildings he had seen, Peter guessed at one time Underwood must have had a brick layer, then he wondered where they would have got the bricks, and then the cement, and then he was wondering why he was wondering at all, he just wanted to find a way home, he didn’t care what buildings they had.

They were pleased to note that as they walked the 10 minute walk to the medical centre, they were acknowledged by the everyday people going about their normal business, and still it appeared so surreal, they all thought about the previous night and how many of them had turned up to watch the flogging, Lily caught the eye of a lady in her thirties, she appeared to be crying as their eyes met, it was one of the saddest things Lily had seen at that moment, she knew the tears were meant for them, but she didn’t know why, she wanted to run over and asked the lady but she was to scared, instead she raised her arm and gave a little wave, the lady smiled, wiped her eyes and waved back, then she turned and walked away, Lily wondered where it was she was walking to as her shoulders were slumped and even her walk looked sad.

It was as if they had decided to up and move to a new town and were getting to know the neighbourhood and the people in it, registering with the doctor seemed such a normal thing to do, yet it wasn’t normal, because they were not here by choice, for choices were few and far between in Underwood, you only had to look at the people’s faces to realise that.

They approached the reception at the medical Centre, Joanne James a pretty girl in her forties manned the desk, she smiled at them as they approached, but it appeared that she was making an effort to be polite deduced Eileen, Joanne pushed her long hair behind her ears which immediately fell back over her face,

‘Good morning’ she said, greeting them, ‘please take a seat the doctor will be with you in a moment’

‘She didn’t even ask our names’ said Eileen as they took a seat, she looked at the surroundings around her, it seemed pleasant enough, just like a normal doctors waiting room, with posters on the wall explaining symptoms, but they looked dated, what was clearly noticeable is that they were the only one in the doctors,

‘Don’t expect they get many gate crashers around here’ Peter replied, the bitterness in his voice showing, most of the night he had lay awake thinking about trying to get out of the place, he knew soon he would have to face the woods, he could see no other way, then he was going to blow this place wide open, tell the world how it is.

Lily and Nathan just sat still, still unaware what was really going on, Nathan thought that his father would sort it, and soon they would be home, he even thought about school and how nice it would be to be there, something he never thought he would hear himself say, ‘why had dad taken us here ’he would constantly ask himself, he could never find the answers, inside he was scared, he didn’t want to show it, but there were to many things going on inside his head, and he was scared of the woods, he kept telling himself ‘there’s monsters in those woods’ , that’s all he dreamed about the night before and probably all he would dream about in the nights to come.

Lily, her feelings in side were mixed between terror and anger, terror in what the future held, and the anger in the way these people had treated her and her family, she felt like she wanted to shout and scream and hit out at everyone she saw, she was also concerned for her little brother who had become withdrawn, her mother seemed on the edge of hysteria, and she couldn’t cope with that, she needed her mother to be strong, at least as strong as she was, she knew her dad was trying to find the answers, so she had to be strong for him, she had to help him find a way out of this shitty place, who else was going to help him?.

Dr. David Harris was in his treatment room, 4 forms in front of him, all to be filled in with the details of the people who were sat in the waiting room, Underwood’s only doctor, and luckily for him, because of that he was given lots of privileges and vouchers, other than those at the maternity he was the only one with medical experience, a good doctor, one with empathy, he had been the only doctor in Underwood for as long as he could remember, the years when his surgery used to be full were a distant memory, and for a normal doctor having a near empty surgery should be a good thing, but it wasn’t, the deal in Underwood seemed to be you were either fit or dead, nobody seemed to get ill but plenty seemed to die, he wondered why they needed a doctor at all, as empty as his surgery was he certainly didn’t want to register new patients.

He recalled the last new residents to underwood a few years back, and the sad ending that had occurred, and he chastised himself when he couldn’t remember their names, he remembered the faces, he could still see their faces, a husband, a wife and a son, but they were dead now, not even a grave to honour them, there were no grave yards in Underwood, you were either burnt or sent into the wood, their bodies were never found as they were sent into the  trees of death, there was nowhere to mourn the dead kinfolk of Underwood, unless it was a memory.

David was fifty four, greying hair, a sturdy fit man with a kind face that people took an instant liking to, all his teenager years he trained for the job he loved, now he hated it, there were no real medicines in Underwood, pain killers, first aid equipment and penicillin was about the stock of it, if people got something more than a headache, a rash or a cut, then there was really nothing he had to treat them with, he could fill them up with dope as there was plenty of that grown in underwood, the fields behind the centre were full of it, that was the only pain relief he did have other than the paracetamol, they would have to die in pain or face the wrath of the woods, he had thought one time of ending it all, his life seemingly one long nightmare as people came into his surgery with ailment after ailment, and he had no treatment to give them, he wondered how many people had got hooked on cannabis as he prescribed it for pain relief, but in recent years things had got easier, it was as if the people of Underwood were becoming immune, the surgery was quiet now, sometimes not a single patient in one day, the population had decreased, but it was still an unlikely statistic, he looked again at the list of people he was about to see today, he scrolled his eyes down to Lily and his body shuddered as he thought about the worse part of his job, he had not done it for a while now, but telling an innocent 16 year old girl she was pregnant, when she probably can’t even remember having sex, cut him up inside, a time that should be filled with joy was replaced with tears and fear, every time he felt like taking the baby from the young girls body, but the consequences were too high, even if it was probably the better thing to do, one day he would do it, do what was right and dam the consequences, dam Underwood.

Nathan was first in, he didn’t want to go in on his own and clung to his mother, but when he saw the kind face of the doctor it reassured him a bit, it was the first friendly face he had seen since arriving in Underwood, then the doctor invited his father in with him and Nathan felt a lot better for it, the doctor took the height and weight of Nathan on scales that looked 40 years old, he asked Peter some personal details about the boy, just mundane questions, Peter answered him, thinking it was best to play along with the system until he can fathom how to get out, the Doctor never spoke to Nathan direct, but the doctor could notice and sense his vulnerability which concerned the doctor, he tried to give him a reassuring look and smile and sent him out into the waiting room to be with his mother and sister.

‘Make sure he eats well and build those muscles up’ the doctor told Peter as he filed the first of his papers,

The statement seemed an odd one to Peter as if suggesting he didn’t feed his children, then a terrible thought came over him ‘what if I can’t feed my children’ his stomach was in knots and he began to sweat,

‘Why on earth would you say that’ he asked,

The doctor thought about it for a while, it seemed the best advice he could give, under the circumstances men with skills and strength were an asset to the community, those who were weak and showed no promise, David Harris shivered when he thought of it, he wished he had said nothing at all.

‘It’s the best advice I can give you’ he told Peter,

‘Can you tell me how I can take him out of here?’ asked Peter ‘that would be better than any medical advice’ he added with sarcasm in his voice.

The doctor looked sheepish as he took his stare from Peters,

‘I’m a doctor’ he told him ‘I can’t help you with anything else, he measured and weighed him, asked him the same routine personal questions and thanked him, gesturing him to leave, Peter stood but did not immediately leave, he thought the doctor didn’t seem enthused with his job, like everyone else in Underwood it appeared that he wished he was someplace else,

‘How long have you been the doctor here’ Peter asked, the doctor met his eyes,

‘I’ve always been the doctor here’ he told him’ Peter locked eyes with him, the doctor did not look away, ‘thank you doctor’, said Peter as he left thinking ‘that’s another person who wished he wasn’t here, then why the fuck is he’