Blood Bond Read online

  As he opened the flyleaf, his heart began to race. At the top of the page were recorded the names of his great-grandparents, Claude and Cora Chatfield. Below their names were listed fifteen children, including his own grandmother, Margaret, and his mysterious ‘secret’ Great-Uncle William. Only William’s descendents were recorded, and the last entry in the list had been amended. Someone had crossed out ‘Clive Cedric Cecil Cork’ and written ‘Corky’.

  Luke looked up to the heavens. Was there a god after all? What had possessed him to pick up a Bible when he had been searching for ammunition? Was his grandmother up there looking after him? No, she couldn’t be. She was still at Haver.

  Suddenly he missed her. He had lost his mother to the pandemic, his father to a lion in Cape Town, and now his brother to Corky. All he had left was his grandmother. Was she still alive? If only he could go back to Haver.

  He bundled his spoils back into the rucksack and set off for some houses on the edge of Manly where he remembered seeing rifles. He deposited a share of the food and ammunition at two selected hiding places along the way.

  In a large house he found a suitable rifle and loaded the chamber. He then loaded a second rifle, the fear of being shot by Corky that had haunted him ever since the death of his brother replaced by overwhelming anger and hate.

  After a sleepless night he left his hiding place before dawn and made his way along the beach towards the point, where he hid in a clump of bushes a few metres from the route he knew Corky would take to check his fishing net. As his brother’s murderer strutted down the beach towards his net, Luke raised the rifle and lined up the sights between Corky’s shoulder blades. But despite his anger, despite the opportunity, despite the pressure on his finger, he found he couldn’t pull the trigger.

  ‘That was yesterday,’ Luke explained. ‘But today I woke up and realised that I just couldn’t take the risk of him finding me any longer — I had to kill him. I was making my way back here to shoot him when I noticed you all at the top of the beach. When I saw you digging I guessed he was planning to do the same to you as he had to Robert. I had a devil of a job getting into a position where I could shoot him without risking hitting Penny or Lee.’

  ‘You did well,’ Steven said, staring down at the corpse.

  Penny put her arm around Luke’s shoulders. ‘We’re really sorry about your brother.’

  For the first time since Robert’s death, Luke began to cry. At last it was safe to mourn.

  Steven dragged Corky’s body across the grass and dumped it unceremoniously into what had been intended to be his own grave. As he shovelled soil onto the body, Luke gradually took control of his emotions.

  ‘Do you think my brother really was responsible for the death of all these poor people?’ he asked, looking forlornly at the row of graves.

  Steven stopped digging. ‘No, it was Lee.’

  ‘Lee?’

  ‘He’s carrying the typhoid bug. He’s what’s known as an asymptomatic carrier.’

  ‘But how could he have infected the people here?’

  Steven leaned on his shovel. ‘When Lee was taken ashore in the rowing boat, he used the latrine at the top of the beach. That probably infected the water supply. Those women had no resistance to the disease — they didn’t stand a chance.’

  ‘Do we really have to go back to New Zealand?’ Penny asked Steven. They had moved Archangel to the channel off the marina, and were now sitting together on the promenade wall, watching Lee help Luke set Corky’s net off the point.

  Steven looked at her. ‘We have to go back,’ he said gently. ‘I can’t just sail off without saying goodbye to my father. Anyway, I want to take him Corky’s Bible — it proves there may be other Chatfields alive somewhere. And we also need to take Luke to New Zealand.’

  ‘Are you sure he wouldn’t rather return to Haver?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘I wouldn’t be so sure if I was you. Have you asked him? He might feel like me.’

  ‘I know that for you and I, living a life of isolation with Lee in New Zealand will be difficult, but we’ll have one another. And maybe Luke will choose to stay with us rather than join my father.’

  Penny shook her head. ‘He won’t. There’s no future for him in our group. I’m the only woman, remember? I accept that you must see your father again, but once you have, I want you to take us back to Haver.’ There was determination in her voice.

  Steven didn’t like her words, but he could understand her feelings. ‘I love you,’ he said eventually. ‘More than I’ve ever loved anyone. I’d like you to give New Zealand a fair crack.’ She opened her mouth to protest, but he continued quickly. ‘If after giving it a try you still feel the same way, I promise I’ll take you back to England. I just don’t want to leave my father in the lurch. I want to help him get the community re-established. I owe it to him, and I owe it to everyone else.’

  She moved closer to him and put her arms around him. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I love you too.’

  They spent almost a month at Manly, fishing, hunting and generally recuperating from their recent ordeals. They walked into Brisbane and wandered through the city, which had been virtually destroyed by fire. They hadn’t expected to find any signs of life, and they didn’t.

  Most of their efforts were centred on the marina complex. They found many skeletons both inside and outside the perimeter fence and gradually, as they discovered fortified boats and skeletons at strategic points along the pontoons, they realised that the marina had become prime real estate, fought over by those inside and those trying to breach its defences. Closer inspection revealed that the wreck sunk at the entrance to the harbour was heavily armed and had been used to attack the marina from the seaward side. Those trapped in the marina had clearly held out for a considerable time. Despite extensive searches, Steven could not find a single scrap of canned or bottled food on any vessel.

  Their efforts were directed to refitting Archangel. She had sailed over thirty thousand miles and was badly in need of attention. With Gulf Harbour Marina destroyed, Manly was the ideal place to scavenge for materials to refit her for the possible voyage back to England — a voyage which Steven accepted was becoming increasingly likely. Luke, upon being made aware of the situation at Gulf Harbour and Penny’s desire to return to Haver, indicated his wish to ‘go home’ too.

  At high tide on a calm day, Archangel was brought in close to the beach, heeled over to starboard and allowed to lie over on her side as the tide dropped. Everyone set to feverishly scraping barnacles from the port side of the hull. It was then liberally covered in antifouling paint before the tide returned. She was then heeled over to port and allowed to settle on her other side, enabling a further shift to complete the cleaning and painting of the starboard side. Shrouds, halyards, sheets and sails were all replaced.

  Their final act was to place carved wooden crosses on the graves of Robert, Emily, Ruby and Harriet, and to repaint the crosses on the remainder of the graves. The freshest grave was furnished with a simple painted plaque; a cross did not seem appropriate. The plaque read Clive Cedric Cecil Cork.

  34

  ‘They’ve gone!’

  Diana was suddenly wide awake. Susan was standing at the foot of her bed, fighting for breath. The clock above Cromwell’s Tower struck six o’clock. ‘They’ve gone,’ Susan repeated.

  ‘Who’s gone?’

  ‘Damian and Greg.’

  ‘What!’

  ‘I went to collect Greg from the Punishment Room at the end of his shift and found the door unbolted. Neither Greg nor Damian was inside.’

  Diana was already out of bed and pulling her dress over her head. Her mind was racing. ‘What about Jasper?’

  ‘I didn’t check. I came straight here.’

  ‘Get everyone assembled in the Great Hall. Tell Duncan and Paul to go to Cromwell’s Tower and check whether Jasper’s still in his cell.’

  Diana and Susan raced along the gallery, Diana breaking off into her s
tudy and Susan hurrying down the staircase, through the Great Hall and out towards the quarters around Lawn Court as fast as her arthritic limbs would allow.

  To her relief, Diana found all the keys, including those to Jasper’s cell, safe in her desk. She grabbed the keys to the armoury and dashed off to collect rifles and ammunition. The members of the community were streaming into the Great Hall as she arrived, all asking questions at the same time — none of which could be answered.

  Duncan ran in, followed by Paul.

  ‘Jasper’s gone too,’ Duncan shouted breathlessly.

  Fear spread across the face of everyone apart from Jennifer. Her expression was one of total disbelief.

  ‘How in heaven’s name did they escape?’ Diana demanded, thrusting a loaded rifle into Duncan’s hands.

  Paul held out his hand. In his palm were two crude keys. ‘We found one key in the cell door, the other in the lock of his ball and chain.’

  Diana snatched the keys and studied them, while Jennifer looked on in continuing disbelief. She recognised the keys. They had been using the smaller one to unlock Jasper’s ball and chain for several weeks. She’d helped him produce the larger key, to his cell door, only the previous week. It was the key he’d promised to use to take her away from Haver when the time was right. Why hadn’t he told her he was going? Why had he left with his brothers instead?

  ‘It gets worse,’ Kimberley said as she joined the group in the hall. ‘Virginia’s gone too.’

  ‘What!’ Jennifer’s voice rose above the hubbub in the Great Hall. ‘Has she been kidnapped?’

  Kimberley shook her head. ‘She’s taken little Hazel with her. You can see from the state of their rooms and what they’ve taken with them that it was all carefully planned.’

  Amy and Beatrice started crying. The fourteen-year-old twins were pregnant, thanks to Diana and Theresa’s insemination regime. They couldn’t believe their mother would have left without them.

  ‘The bitch!’ Jennifer exclaimed. There was such venom in her voice that all eyes turned to her. ‘Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?’ she spat. ‘Don’t you see it? The little whore’s dropped her knickers for him — and he’s conned her into helping him make the keys.’

  ‘How could he have seduced her?’ Duncan shouted, coming to the defence of his daughter. ‘Didn’t you and Virginia always lock Jasper up and collect him together?’

  ‘Of course we did.’

  ‘That’s enough,’ Diana snapped. ‘What matters now is keeping ourselves safe. The Chatfield brothers obviously don’t have weapons or we’d all be lined up against the wall.’

  ‘More likely we’d be lying dead in front of the wall,’ Paul said glumly.

  Diana handed him a rifle. ‘We’ll mount guards at the top of Cromwell’s Tower and West Gate. You take Cromwell’s Tower. Duncan, you take the West Gate. Lock the doors at the foot of the towers once you’re inside. Now get going.’

  As Duncan and Paul hurried away, Diana turned to Cheryl. ‘Bolt the West Gate and all the other gates. Susan, get on with breakfast. The rest of you stay inside the walls — we’ll start firearms training as soon as breakfast’s over.’

  ‘What about the animals on the farm?’ Bridget asked.

  ‘No one goes into the park until I say so.’

  Over the next few days, the community at Haver remained in a state of high alert as Diana, assuming the role of High Commander, drilled and trained her troops. Of her adversaries she knew the most dangerous was Jasper. Damian, though extremely volatile, didn’t have the ability to lead his brothers, let alone mount a concerted attack against Haver. Greg would do as he was told.

  It began to dawn on her just how clever Jasper had been. By appearing subjugated and broken, he had lulled them all into a false sense of security. But what really puzzled her was how he had apparently seduced Virginia.

  He was undoubtedly a ladies’ man, and the community was pitifully short of eligible males. She had always recognised that as a chink in her armour. The fear that consensual sexual relationships might develop between women in the community and the Chatfield brothers had been the main reason that she had decreed artificial insemination be employed.

  So how had Jasper managed to charm the pants off Virginia — literally? Was it simply the promise of a life with him away from Haver that had led to her betrayal? Even promises had to be delivered and discussed. Diana checked and re-checked, interrogating Duncan, Jennifer, Kimberley and Rebecca several times. Despite her probing and accusations, they supported one another’s stories. If the Steeds were to be believed, Virginia had had no time alone with Jasper. Yet somehow he had managed to communicate with her.

  Diana knew her future as Leader of Haver lay in her ability to out-think and outwit Jasper. She particularly feared the Chatfield brothers would mount a night attack. Fortunately it was June, and the nights were short. The contents of the armoury were distributed to three locked rooms at strategic points in the Haver complex. The issue and return of firearms was rigorously controlled by a booking system. In addition to machine guns installed on the parapets of the West Gate and Cromwell’s Tower, Diana had at her disposal sufficient firearms and ammunition to issue a weapon to every adult.

  With no sighting of the Chatfield brothers, the community began to relax, despite Diana urging them to remain vigilant. Weapons had to be put aside while duties were performed. She noticed guns were being propped against walls and left unattended. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

  She recalled most of the weapons, and armed only selected guards whose sole task was to keep a lookout while others worked. Unannounced ‘re-arming drills’ were held several times a week and the amount of time taken to get weapons was analysed. New targets were set. Of those working inside Haver’s walls or in the gardens immediately outside the West Gate, fifty per cent were required to be armed and in their allocated defensive positions within forty-five seconds. The remainder had to be armed and in position within ninety seconds.

  Target practice was a highlight of the weekly schedule. A competitive spirit developed between the keenest marksmen. None practised more rigorously or became more proficient than Jennifer.

  A thick wooden screen with rifle slits in it was erected on the platform of the cart previously used by Nigel for executions, to form a mobile fort. When the farm animals needed tending, the cart was pulled by horses to the area being worked and a guard remained behind the screen while the other members of the party carried out their tasks. Once again, surprise drills were practised, during which those working around the cart had to scramble to its safety within forty-five seconds.

  A quarter of the community’s labour was engaged on guard duty, day and night. The loss of the Chatfield brothers’ manpower had robbed the community of much-needed electricity, which in turn increased demand for manual labour. Supplementary solar panels and wind generators were pressed into service, but they never quite made up the shortfall. Unable to rely on the freezers, Diana ordered the bottling of much of the previously frozen produce — a massive, labour-intensive activity. Diana was forced to constantly juggle resources. Had it not been for her organisational abilities and her order to significantly increase the working hours of the community, Haver would have collapsed.

  ‘The Chatfield brothers might never come back,’ suggested an exhausted Duncan as the community entered the second month of its perceived siege. Those who weren’t on guard duty were sitting in the Great Hall having dinner.

  ‘Why would they come back?’ Jennifer sneered bitterly. ‘Greg and Damian will do whatever Jasper tells them. And he took what he wanted with him.’

  Paul looked at her, not understanding her rationale.

  ‘The whore, of course!’ she shouted at him.

  ‘Don’t you talk about my daughter like that,’ Duncan threatened.

  ‘That’s enough,’ Diana snapped.

  The community was living under martial law, in a constant state of siege. They could still play cricket or football, but
the games were no longer enjoyed on the playing fields outside the walled perimeter of Haver House. Matches were now played on Lawn Court, under the watchful eyes of sentries standing guard on the ramparts. They could no longer venture into the park or walk through the deserted streets of Sevenoaks. They were forever looking nervously over their shoulders. The drills seemed endless. Haver had once again become a prison.

  During September and October the labour pool was further reduced as the younger women gave birth. Of the seven babies born, only one was male. The only sperm Diana now had access to was Duncan’s, and she was concerned about not only how fertile his sperm was, but also how much longer he would live. Diana frequently ranted to Theresa about Mark’s selfish removal of so many male genes from Haver.

  In early November, five months after the Chatfield brothers’ escape, Paul, on lookout duty at the top of the West Tower, noticed that several cows appeared to be missing from the herd grazing in the valley. Diana ordered the fortified cart despatched to check the paddocks. The patrol returned just as lunch was being served in the Great Hall.

  ‘Definitely half a dozen of our best cattle are missing,’ Duncan confirmed.

  Everyone at the table was alarmed. Many of them had started to assume that the Chatfield brothers had moved far away, or had died. Now they knew they hadn’t.

  ‘It’s a good sign, don’t you see?’ Theresa said, trying to dispel the gloom.

  ‘What’s good about losing half our stock?’ Paul said. He was exaggerating, but he had a point.

  ‘It means they don’t intend to try to take this place back. They’re obviously content to establish their own community somewhere else.’

  ‘Content! They’ll never be content until we’re skivvying for them again, mark my words.’

  ‘I don’t want to think about what it would be like if they took control again,’ Bridget sighed. ‘They’ll take revenge on us all for Diana murdering their father.’