Chapter 61 The Occupation
1609words
"I've been out of my mind with worry, my dear. Don't do this to me ever again! Where are you coming from?"
Deon is still holding his .303 rifle in his right hand. "I rose at first light while you were still sleeping to visit our people to see if they are all okay. They are keeping well but worry about empty shelves and they wanted to know when I will take them into town. I had to explain to them that it might be extremely dangerous and that only the strongest of us can go well-armed into town looking for provisions."
Yolandi hugs Deon tighter. "Armed? We only have this single gun. Do you think Chloe's warning is true that those spiders that came from heaven changed the people in man-eating monsters? She even told us to wait for seven days before we could even venture to go to town."
Deon frowns. "It is ten days already, darling, and everything has run out since last week. There is no electricity, the television is dead, so is the internet and the landline and even our smartphones. We are lucky to be so independent with our wind turbine, solar panels, battery bank, and water reservoirs. I think there is turmoil outside and we can only hope it stay away from us."
Worried Yolandi frowns. "Deon, I wonder now if it wouldn't be better if we had moved to the Eastwood Estate as Chloe had suggested. They are well protected by the army over there."
"I don't know, sweetie, let's first have a look at what is going on in town. We still have the option to pack the caravan and move over there if necessary, not so?"
They are suddenly alarmed by noises that sound like vehicles racing from the woods into their yard. They had to clear a diameter of the blue gum forest large enough to ensure safety from fire when they built the house. Together they run to the nearest window. Deon counts six 4x4 Ranger double cabs that race clockwise around the house. It is clear that they are encircled when the first vehicle stops only a few meters from the front door and just behind the last one.
As soon as they have stopped, the doors swing open and the drivers take dead rest over the bonnets with machine guns while three armed men with strange gear exit the vehicles and run towards the house just to vanish out of their sight somewhere around the house.
Yolandi looks at Deon with wide eyes and whispers: "Goodness, what are we going to do?"
Suddenly they hear a deafening hammering with a mighty fist on the front door so that it rattles in its frame and then hear the coarse man's voice: "Deon and Yolandi Sonnekus, we don't know whether you have avoided the plague. Please open the door or else we will take over the house by force."
Once again he hammers the door and then silence follows.
Deon sprints and take the position at the inside of the door and Yolandi follows quickly and joins him.
"Who are you and what are you doing here? How do you know us?"
"Deon, we were hired and prepared by the Saviours, an organization that is going to develop an antidote and eventually ends the anarchy caused by the plague and together with them we chose your farm as a base from where we are going to operate. Deon, have you avoided the plague or are you sick?"
"Chloe Eastwood of the neighbouring farm warned us to put off all lights the night the spiders came down. We are healthy."
"The whole world is in anarchy, Deon. Have you been outside the farm from the time the spiders came down?"
"No, we were warned that the spiders would emerge from the sewers and would attack people and that they would die after seven days. People are then going to infect one another and change into monsters so that everything will be ruined. We really don't know what is going on outside except that all networks and services have ceased to work."
"How about sickness of your workers and their families?"
"Nothing, I have just returned from visiting them. Their supplies are running out and my strongest men and I want to go into town shortly."
"Impossible. You are not equipped for such an outing. If you aren't overwhelmed there by man-eating gangs, you will surely be infected or bring the virus back to the farm with your provisions and it will be the end of everyone on the farm. Just open the door now! You need us as much as we need the farm. We are planning to make this our base from where we can help the Saviours. It is a win-win situation and in any case, you are encircled."
Anxiously Deon and Yolandi look at each other and she whispers: "I see no alternative, dearie."
Deon speaks again: "How do we know it is true? I suggest you come back tomorrow. Let us inspect for ourselves what is going on outside before I joyfully turn over the farm to you."
Suddenly a loud crash follows and Deon just in time prevents the door with his free hand from slamming into them. Three men with R5 guns aim at them and the one in front is a monster of a man. They wear funny metal gear resembling scales and helmets cover their heads. Deon bends and puts his gun down carefully and raises his hands into the air showing submission.
The faces of the soldiers at the back are hidden behind glass but the monster's face is open when he speaks. "Good choice, Deon, time for games is over. We know you two live here alone. Rather consider this as an opportunity to stay alive. You have no choice as to join us because without us you will one time or another be overwhelmed by anarchy and the highly infectious plague."
Yolandi silently thinks: ‘We will give you the chance but if you act badly towards us, we can escape and join the group at the Eastwood Estate. I am sure they will want to know about their dangerous neighbours.'
~*~*~
Captain Dexter, Klaas the tracker, and Chloe look at the remains of the campfire that have been sniffed out by the dogs as Klaas confirms: "It was rather a big camp. Quite a few two men tents were erected. I guess some twelve tents and they disembarked with six 4x4s, probably four in each vehicle. So, I guess about 24 people altogether, Captain."
Dexter frowns at Klaas: "How long ago did they leave?"
"Not very long ago. The ashes of the campfires are still very hot. I would guess just a little while before we have arrived at the dam."
Dexter looks at Chloe with a question mark on his face: "Do you perhaps know who could be hiding on this desolate piece of the farm?"
Chloe shakes her head from side to side: "I have no idea, Captain."
Dexter is sceptical: "You are not trying to do something secretive, my girl? Colonel Morrison will have no mercy. Don't give him a reason."
Chloe looks back at Jane who is searching the earth a little further off. "Jane, come here."
Jane joins them and Chloe explains: "Some 24 people camped here secretly and they have departed just a while ago in six 4x4s just before we've arrived. Captain Dexter is afraid that we have something up our sleeves. Can you help to convince him we know nothing about this?"
"I'm shocked. Why would 24 people hide here and depart just before we arrived with the dogs? How did they know the dogs were coming?"
Dexter nods. "Good question. No cell phone is working. Maybe they have a sentry on that high hill between this place and the yard who warned them via radio."
Jane concurs: "I that case, the sentry must still be on the farm, maybe on his way to the national road. Why not get the helicopter in the air for surveillance of this area and up to the road?"
Dexter nods. "Maybe we should."
Chloe frowns. "Suppose someone from within the camp warned them we are on our way? Maybe with a hidden radio and why should they have hidden here in the first place?"
Jane surmises: "Maybe they know about the plague and that our farm is reasonably safe. Maybe they hid here until they got word that the plague has passed."
Chloe further speculates: "But why hid here while they could have come to us and ask to join us?"
Dexter rubs his chin. "That is a good question and I think it can only be because they knew they would not be welcome."
Chloe frowns. "But why wouldn't they?"
Jane thinks loudly: "Maybe they are armed to the teeth."
Dexter nods. "Most probably that is the reason. They are a well-armed group of people that hid secretly on our farm and most probably they have a spy in our midst who conveys to them everything going on at the farm. I am now going to contact Haasbroek and get the helicopter in the sky while we are going to block the way with the dogs to the national road. If we find no sentry, I am going to get Heinrich to appoint signalers to monitor all frequencies 24/7 and maybe then we will discover that we have a spy in our camp."
