Underwood (15 page)

‘How do we know what’s in the woods and if we can kill it’ asked the doctor,

‘We won’t until we try’

‘What if we do take them out, how do we get back to the real world?’

Tony got up from his chair and paced the doctor’s office, he looked pensive, but the doctor could see the look of hope in his eyes, he turned sharp to face the doctor, he spoke enthusiastically, he wasn’t going to tell him of his theory, not yet.

‘Even if we can’t get out, having those dead at least we can stop all the madness, but don’t forget doc, Peter and his family got in, there has to be a way out’,

‘I’ll get you the poison you need ‘said the doctor, he was never not going to.

Tony thanked him and left the doctors, he took a slow walk towards the old army huts and when he reached the converted maternity unit, he stopped and looked at it, he thought of all the young kids been brought there to have the children they didn’t want, he prayed for all the male babies who had been taken to the woods, he looked up to the skies, hoped his wife was looking down on him,

‘They’ll be no more fucking babies’ he told her.

It was 1976, it was June and the summer was gloriously hot, one of the hottest summers for decades and today was carnival day, one of the biggest days of the calendar year at Underwood Estate.

The estate had been completed, the biggest steelworks in the world, just out of sight behind the trees up and running, plumes of smoke drifting into the sky, sometimes obscuring the sun, sometimes dirtying the washing that hung on clothes lines, but the 3 mile long works kept turning out the iron, making the steel and Underwood, the council estate built in the middle of nowhere, with one road in and the same road out was thriving, the beer pumps in the social club were forever being pulled, the supermarket and the butchers tills were always ringing, the post office and the paper shop churning out sweets for the kids and cashing in the family allowance, and the best stocked chemist for tens of miles were always there to take care of peoples ills, and if you didn’t fancy cooking, then there was always the chip shop, and the hairdressers always made sure you looked good for that special night out, everyone knew everyone and if you didn’t work at the steelworks, you had a family member or friend who did, it was a council estate success, one of the very few.

The red and white flags were hung from almost every house, some displaying the welsh dragon as people watched in the streets at the procession of lorry’s that went past, some full of ancient warriors, some full of fairies and angels, Disney characters and comic villains, all cheered on by proud parents, hoping this year that it will be their daughter that will be announced as carnival queen.

The field next to the centre was awash with activities and games to play for the children, while some parents chose to rest and drink in the centre bar, some had already made it to the social club where the festivities would go on well into the night, when the fairy’s and warriors would be sleeping and the newly crowned beauty queen getting her deserved beauty sleep, yes nearly everyone was there, it was felt that more than likely those who weren’t attending were the ones whose shift it was at the steel works, perhaps it would be they who could explain what happened.

By the time Underwood changed nearly everyone was merry or asleep, the teenagers were at the old army huts, playing in the huts and the dens that they had made, the pretty girls of underwood sharing a kiss with the boy of their dreams, the sun was almost setting on this warm night, if it had set completely then perhaps no one would have noticed it happen.

As the orange cloud drifted from the steel works over the town of Underwood, no one thought much of it, other than it being just another dirty cloud created by the steelworks, only this one didn’t float over it hovered above the town,

People will recall it coming down slowly and purposely, blocking out the fading sunlight, some would say it was a UFO, those who survived would never be able to speak of it again.

Those who walked the streets or those in bed who may not have seen it, felt it first, for the noise would have surely woken them as the trees around Underwood started to turn, slowly at first, as if they were just swaying in the wind, but then they seem to come alive as the orange dust empowered them, and as people watched and screamed at the spinning trees, the ground beneath them shook and those still down at the centre fields and those near the woods edge were sucked into the vacuum as the trees spun and gathered momentum taking the bodies of those closest and tossing them into the air, where there bodies would spin with the trees until it was laid fractured on the ground, hundreds and hundreds of them.

The power was shut off, the phone lines were out of order, those from inside the club and those at home came running out into the streets, some being sucked into the air straight away, for others it would take longer, some survived the ordeal but not many, those in the centre of the town were the best protected, those who stayed indoors were the sensible ones, as long as their windows were closed, but the night was warm and sticky and many perished being sucked up through the open windows, into the void, as they watched or died the new Underwood was being born.

No one could understand it, at first they thought the steelworks had blown up and created a suction and those who survived will say that’s what happened and it somehow threw the town Of Underwood off the planet, no one really believed it, but it’s what they wanted to believe as they could think of no other logical explanation, because trees don’t move, do they? Not as if there was any logic in the one they had.

As the people of Underwood took to the streets and the screams and shouts were in abundance, the teenagers In the army huts stood in fear, just like every other part of underwood the trees were spinning, but as the teenagers run out from their dens, something else was happening in the army huts, for  they stood and watched frozen in fear as the ground in front of them opened up, at first they would swear they saw human souls being released from the hole that had appeared in the ground, whatever happened in that steelworks, the finest steel in the world made, today it had unearthed something that had laid dormant since the second world war.

Stronger than any Iron or Steel it had produced.

17 teenagers died that day in the army huts alone, by the hands of the monster that came from the ground as the Wolfe like animal fed on their bodies, they had tried to run, but with the woods spinning, there was nowhere to run to as the landscape changed continually, throwing their minds into utter confusion and throwing their bodies into the thing that devoured them, and as the awoken animal licked his lips at the first meal he had eaten for almost 40 years, he thought of the last three people he had seen, he would call on them to help him create the new underwood, for it was those who destroyed the last.

Next morning the carnage was not unlike an earthquake, the orange cloud was gone now and to everyone’s utter disbelief the landscape surrounding the town had moved, with no outside contact with the rest of the world, people had to burn their dead, under the instructions of the new resident of Underwood, Sheriff Allan Herapath, the Vicar would say some meaningless words as the body’s burned and the judge would punish those that didn’t obey, he was kept very busy in the early days.

That day a new Underwood was born, but it was so different from the old.

Delyn Brown the pretty 18 year old Welsh girl from Newport had only just passed her driving test, and the curly haired freckled face beauty was a bit nervous in driving over to Bristol, it was her friend “Judith’s” hen night, she was a bit annoyed not being able to have the two days of from the hairdressers where she worked, for now she would have to travel there on her own and meet the rest of her friends there, Bristol was a good night out and the hotel they were staying at had some good reviews on trip advisor and she had cheered up a bit when she managed to leave work 2 hours early, maybe by the time she gets there and meet the others they would not have had to much to drink, though she didn’t like the weather that was approaching and as she sat in her bedroom applying the final touches to her make-up, the heavens opened and pelted the bedroom window with the rain, she jumped streaking her mascara down her cheek,

‘
shit, have to take a coat’
she thought, she looked out of the window, it was really pouring down, she didn’t fancy driving in the rain and she thought about a taxi, she checked her purse, there was no way she could afford that, she had the hotel to pay for and drinks, she would have to take it easy, she grabbed her coat, checked she had her id , she said goodbye to her mum, thankful that her father wasn’t home as she knew he would have told her not to go, she thought about waiting for him to come home and ask him to take her, but that would be leaving it to late, she kissed her mum got into her ford focus and started the engine, she looked up at the skies, it didn’t look good, she hoped it would pass over, or at least she would be driving away from it.

‘
I’m a good driver’
she told herself,
‘I passed first time’

Delyn Brown drove off into the rain towards the Severn Bridge to Bristol, she had a hen night to go to, and she was so looking forward to it.

Tony Griffiths stood in his car lot, as he had done nearly every night since he built the car lot that wasn’t allowed to sell cars, he was probably the best predictor of the weather that Underwood had, he had enough experience having lived there all that time, it was the behaviour of the tree’s, the lie of the sun and the movement of the clouds that told him a storm would be coming, just 8 days after the last, he thought it might be a bit soon, and if it was a daytime storm then that wouldn’t do, but it looked as if it was a few hours yet before the storm came, based on past experiences, by then it would be dark, by then they may be able to see exactly what happens when the storms come, he felt the excitement building up inside him, something he hadn’t felt for years, at that time he didn’t care if he lived or died, as long as he tried, someone had to do something about this fucked up world he lived in.

He went into his work shop, checked the chains and padlocks, they would do fine, he walked the five minute walk to Hawthorne with the chains and padlocks in a holdall, his pace was fast, the adrenalin flowed.

Peter answered the door and saw Tony stood there, his heart went into his mouth.

‘I think its tonight’ said Tony ‘let’s go check the place and hide these somewhere’ he added as he held up his bag, he had a big grin on his face, Peter could tell he was enjoying this.

Peter just nodded, said his goodbyes to his wife and children and the two of them walked to the top of the town towards the army huts with a determination to succeed, failure was not an option, and they soon arrived to the place where Peter said he entered Underwood.

Delyn Brown lived just a mile from the M4 motorway and despite the torrential rain she got on it quite easily, she drove cautiously but it appeared that so was everyone else, the skies were a mass of grey and looked threatening, the dark skies seemed to go on forever, she hoped it was clearer in Bristol, her adrenalin was high but she wasn’t sure that was because she had never driven in conditions like she was experiencing, or the excitement of the evening ahead, she crawled along at a snail’s pace, she had phoned her friends telling them she would be late, she wished at least one of them had offered to stay and travel with her and was quite upset when they hadn’t, she couldn’t miss out on this, Judith was her best friend, she would be there no matter how late it got, that’s what best friends do.

The overhead signs were displaying “accident” the next exit was at the Coldra roundabout, she would get off there and connect to the Severn Bridge at Magor, it would be easy, she was reasonably familiar with the area, she would get there, no matter what.

Peter and Tony stood at the top of the estate, the chains and padlocks hidden deep inside a bush on the waste ground beside the old army huts, which were to their left, no one was going to go up there, especially with a storm brewing.

‘So you say the road to Underwood is behind these trees’ said Tony pointing straight ahead into the trees,

‘This is where we were picked up, whatever is the other side of those trees can’t change, the road was here, I’m sure of it’ he paused for thought, licked his lips and then bit his tongue, he looked around, Tony’s eyes followed the same direction as his,

‘So if someone’s going to come tonight, they’re going to come here’ said Tony, he tried to recall where the entrance road to Underwood was before it changed, but the landscape had changed so many times it just boiled his mind.

‘You got any better ideas’ asked Peter, secretly wishing he had, because Peter was now thinking this was more like a childish prank.

Tony had no better ideas, in fact he thought Peters theory was quite plausible, tonight was going to be a tester, like a stake out and if they saw an opportunity to break out then they would wait for another storm and take whoever they could with them, but first somehow they would have to maim the thing in the woods and hopefully halt the three warlords of Underwood, that’s where Tony came in, they both hoped it would be long and painful deaths.

As they walked back Peter noticed that Tony had grown quiet, he normally had so much to say for himself, his silence felt uneasy to Peter, he needed someone he could trust, if he couldn’t trust Tony then where the hell would he be, he began to have a feeling of being set up and that all the people in Underwood were just the same, they were just approaching the car lot when Peter felt he had to say something,

‘You’re not going to let me down on this are you Tony’ he asked, their eyes met and Tony gave a nervous grin, Peter didn’t like it, he recognise the grin for what it was, nervousness, it didn’t show a lot of trust, he began to feel worried.

‘I’ve got something to show you’ Tony answered and made his way into the car lot, Peter followed, not expecting the answer he got but it was better than the one he feared he was going to get.

Tony opened the workshop shutter and invited Peter in, Peter was surprised to see how big the workshop was, he had never really been inside and leading off the main workshop was two smaller rooms, he led Peter into one of the smaller rooms, which was full of bookcases with old car manuals on one and on the other side, was a workbench and shelves housing hundreds of tools, Tony grabbed one end of the bookcase, he nodded to Peter to do the same, they eased the bookcase away from the wall, underneath it, on the floor was a small trap door. Peter looked at Tony questionably, Tony never said a word, he just lifted the trap door, Peter could see a thin metal ladder leading down, it reminded him of a sewer, then he thought of the drains, maybe the drains were the answer, Tony nodded for him to go down,

‘you first’ said Peter, Tony laughed, he knew Peter was not fully trusting him, he nodded to Peter and descended down the ladder, Peter followed, not liking the uncertainty of this particular journey, 10 feet later he stood on sound flooring in the pitch darkness, that was until Tony switched on the lights, Peter was expecting something dark and sinister, but it was nothing like that, for what he saw was an underground home, the room he saw was a living room, with a sofa, a chair book cases crammed with books and magazines, off that was a kitchen with a stove and cupboards and a two seater dining table, there was a further 2 rooms with double beds in and a bathroom, Peter looked astounded.

‘What is this place?’

Tony didn’t answer, he took him into the kitchen, there was a metal hatch on the wall, and Tony opened it revealing a compartment about 2 foot square,

‘There’s a false drain in the road about ten yards from the car lot’ he said ‘it’s a chute, this is their supply route, we chuck things down the drain and they pick it up here, if it’s raining, they pull this lever’ Tony demonstrated by pulling a lever in the compartment, they heard a clunking noise, ‘this diverts the rain’ he continued ‘but of course they won’t get any provisions’

Peter looked on in wonderment,

‘How did you do this ‘asked Peter?

‘It’s an old air raid shelter that I converted, I built the car lot on top of it, and you’re the only one who knows about it, so now do you think you can trust me, he gave Peter a quizzical look,

‘And who are you referring as they?’ asked Peter,

Tony closed the door and made his way towards the exit,

‘Your daughter and her friend’ he said, they closed the hatch and put the case back in its place,

‘You would do that ‘Peter asked,

‘There’s been enough butchery in this place, they stay down there until we think of a way’

They shook hands forming a bond built on mutual respect and trust.

Peter left for home on the understanding that as soon as the storm started they would meet again, both not forgetting that if this idea worked it would probably mean a new resident for Underwood, Tony just hoped that they were male and strong, that was the best chance of surviving in Underwood.

It all seemed to be going well until she got off the motorway, the Langstone road was heaving with traffic as the rain poured down and the thunder clapped, it was getting dark and Delyn thought about turning around, and missing her best friends hen do after all, but the clubs were open until 3 am, she imagined getting there at around eleven, that would still leave her four hours of partying, she could drink plenty in four hours and perhaps even more at the hotel, providing everyone wasn’t to drunk, she didn’t want to drink on her own, she smiles at herself as she thought that there was usually one or two who would be drinking all night and sleep on the way home the next day, she took the road to Magor that’s where she wanted to go, that’s where the Severn bridge was, a mile down the road and the fear was settling in, the road had turned into a lane, she swore it never done that, she thought this was always a road, never a lane, it felt dark and threatening, there was no lighting, at that time if she could have done a three point turn she would have, but the lane was to narrow, the trees frightened her as they swayed in the wind, even though the skies were dark she could see they stood tall, she tried ringing her friends that she wasn’t going to get there, she knew there was a services with a travel lodge just a few miles away, she would get to there and park up for the night, no partying for her, she was crawling along thinking that soon she would be safe and warm until she saw what looked like a small river in front of her, the road was flooded and it was getting worse, she froze with fear she felt trapped, where could she go, she wanted her dad.

Both Tony and Peter met just outside the Underwood Social, it was dark and both were sure they were not seen, most of the residents were indoors, fearful of the storm, not so much the weather that it brought but most residents were wondering what scenery they would be looking at in the morning, and what was worse, would they have any new residents the next day, the creature in the woods lay hidden in its den, it could be hard for him to keep his footings sometimes when the woods spun, it was best just to lay still and see what the night brought, the three officers of Underwood, were never out on a storm night, they lay in hiding just like their creator, the rain was pouring now and despite both men having heavy raincoats they were soon soaked, they walked towards the top of the town with a determination to see it through, it might be a long night, they hoped not but they were prepared to wait and as they chained themselves to the chain link fence, with the padlocks and chains they had hidden earlier, that’s exactly what they did, wait.

There was nothing Delyn could do, she had to turn right as the water was rising at a good speed, she tried to turn on the corner to go back, but the water seemed too deep, she didn’t want to get stuck in that river that appeared to be forming, so she turned right hoping to be able to turn around and head back the way she came, or at least find some high ground so she could sit and wait the storm out, the church spooked her, the torrential downpour frightened her, the sound of thunder shook her bones and the flash of lightening lit up things she didn’t really want to see, the trees and they looked alive, she tried her phone, there was no signal but she tried to ring her dad anyway, there was no connection, she tried 999, nothing, tears streamed down her eyes as she slowly crawled up the hill, thankful that at least she was going upwards hopefully towards high ground where she could sit it out, maybe even get a signal for her phone.