On the wider stretches of river the boats that they saw jutted out towards the centre. They were more frequently occupied here and tied together in threes, fours and mores. Neither Hannah nor Dennis spoke.
It would later seem that she had felt a sense of dread as they arrived in Sanctuary but it wouldn’t be the truth. She felt confused, certainly, a little apprehensive, perhaps, but not dread.
Frank led them to what at first appeared to be an island in the middle of the wide stretch of river. As they got nearer, however, she saw that it was actually man made. A floor of wooden boards floating like a boat. There was a hut, or shed in the middle and a long boat moored at either end.
They circled the island and moored next to Frank. Hannah was too stunned to say anything. She watched in mute astonishment alongside Ben and Cora as two men walked out of the hut and helped to tie up their boats. No time at all seemed to pass before Frank was standing before them.
“The General would like to see us,” he said.
“General?” said Dennis. He sounded as stunned as she felt. “Who’s the General?”
But Frank just smiled a knowing smile. “Trust me,” he said.
Dennis nodded and took her hand. He turned to her. “You’ll wait here with the kids?”
She nodded but Frank interrupted. “The General wants to see you both,” he said.
“Oh no,” said Hannah, suddenly sure they had walked into a trap. “No, no way. I’m not leaving them.”
“Bring them with you,” said Frank. “There’s room inside.”
She looked at him and scowled. “Who are you?”
He actually laughed like Santa Claus as well. “All will be revealed my dear. You have nothing to fear.”
Dennis climbed onto the island and she handed Cora to him. Then Ben jumped across and she followed.
The island wobbled beneath her feet and sounded hollow. She didn’t like it, not the island, not the community, not the way they were being treated, not one little bit. But she followed Dennis into the dark hut.
Candle stubs burned around the single room building giving off a flickering light and making the air hot and moist. Large men with guns stood on either side of the door, four more stood behind a long table and five chairs.
On the table there were large sheets of paper open. Hannah couldn’t see what was printed on them. She felt as if she had stepped into another world. The third she had lived in recently.
A woman of about forty with short grey hair that still had remnants of brown sat in the middle chair. The other four people at the table were men.
The woman had been hunched over the papers when they entered but she sat back and put her hands in her lap as they approached. Frank walked up to her, leaned across the table and kissed her on the mouth. “It’s good to see you again Margie,” he said.
Hannah didn’t know what to think. She held Cora’s hand more tightly and waited to see what would happen next.
“Who have you brought us this time Frank?” said Margie.
“The Thompson’s,” he said. “Found ’em down by the aqueduct. Had a map.”
“A map?” said Margie with obviously staged surprise. “How did they come across that I wonder.”
“Said he found it on the boat,” explained Frank.
“I see. And you’ve vetted them?”
Hannah was well aware that this was a performance being put on for their benefit. She saw Frank nod to the question.
“Well lets see then,” said Margie. “What have we got here.” She put on a pair of black rimmed glasses and stood up. She walked around the table and began to examine them one by one.
“Name?”
“Dennis.”
She nodded as if it mattered. “And what did you do, before all of this?”
“I worked at Lloyds of London,” he said. “Not a stockbroker though.”
Margie nodded. Hannah glanced at the table behind her and saw the four men watching. One of them was writing down what was being said. “Any military experience?” she said.
Dennis shook his head.
“Have you ever fired a gun?”
Dennis shook his head again.
“A pity. And what about you?” she said stopping in front of Hannah.
She told the woman her name and that her last job was in marketing. She had never fired a gun and the closest she had come to military service was a year in the Girl Guides.
“Are the children yours?” she said.
“They are,” said Hannah.
“Good, you can’t be too careful. What are their names?”
Hannah told her and it was noted by the man at the table.
“Well then,” said Margie. “Welcome to Sanctuary. You will find us a pleasant community. We have very few rules but we don’t tolerate antisocial behaviour. We look after each other. Frank will show you where you can moor up for now, until we can find you a permanent spot.”
They followed Frank out of the cabin. She scowled at him when he looked at her. He led them further down the river to an empty space between two small boats.
“You’ll be alright here,” he said. “Few days we’ll see about getting you somewhere more permanent. Maybe another couple of boats.”
She didn’t thank him. She couldn’t forget that he’d lied to them all. He’d spied on them to make sure they were ‘suitable’ for Sanctuary. He left them to get settled in and she tried to talk to Dennis about it but he dismissed her concerns.
That night Frank returned with food and water for them but he didn’t stay to talk. He told them he had work to do.
Love
1
Ben crouched in the long grass and watched the rabbit move. It loped a few metres and then stopped, lifted its head and looked around, twitching its pink nose. Ben held a homemade spear in his hand. It was made of a piece of tree that he had sanded and made straight and on the killing end there was a razor sharp tip made out of scavenged metal. They did have guns at Sanctuary but they were noisy, cumbersome things. They used them for defence rather than hunting.
Mentally he had drawn out a circle on the ground and now he was waiting for the rabbit to hop into it. He held his breath as it came nearer, paused to sniff the air and then continued into his killing circle.
He launched the spear through the air. It was silent but his grunt echoed and a flock of birds took flight from a nearby tree. Sometimes there were animals bigger than rabbits to hunt and those were good days, but they were few and far between. Most days they had to make do with rabbit meat or nothing.
He crossed the long grass to where the rabbit lay pinned to the ground. It wasn’t moving. He pulled the weapon free and shouldered the furry meat. He carried it back to his hiding place where he strung it up with the other four he had caught that morning and prepared to make his way home.
He could remember a time when they hadn’t lived on a boat but it was a distant memory, vague and unsettling, tinged as it was with their flight from the vampires. The name had been settled on a long time ago. Sanctuary was safe though. The nearest land was more than a mile away and as far as he was aware no vampire had ever attempted to reach them. The only thing they had to worry about was pirates.
He approached the village in the little raft that he had made himself out of the discarded hulls of other boats. When his parents had agreed that he was old enough to go out by himself he had spent long summer days roaming up and down the river collecting useful bits and pieces.
The laughter of children carried on the wind. Careless laughter, he thought, most of them had never even seen a vamp. Most of them didn’t know that there was anything out there that could hurt them. He could hear splashing in the water and as he got closer tiny waves rocked the little boat.