Jessamy Beech Ch. 06: Gloucester

"You wanted to see me Sergeant," Jessamy stated.

Mpenzi nodded, "At ease Beech. Take a seat."

Noting that there was only one chair, Jessamy perched on the edge of the lumpy mattress. Subconsciously she realised that if Mpenzi really did want to get her into bed, she was already halfway there.

Mpenzi seemed more relaxed on her own territory, away from the eyes of the other recruits. She was barefoot and wore just MTP trousers and a khaki green t-shirt. Jessamy couldn't help but notice she probably wasn't wearing a bra either. Mpenzi's prominent nipples drew the eye like a pair of magnets.

"You don't seem to mix much with the other recruits," the sergeant observed, sitting at her desk.

"No Sergeant," Jessamy responded.

"Call me Lupita. All my friends do."

Alarm bells began to quietly sound in Jessamy's brain. If Sergeant Mpenzi was about to try and seduce her then being on first name terms would surely be her first move.

But not wanting to appear churlish, Jessamy cleared her throat, "Uh, J-Jessamy. Please ... call me Jessamy."

"Like I said ... Jessamy ... you don't seem to mix with the others."

"I'm here to do a job, not make friends."

Mpenzi frowned, pondering, "But you do have friends?"

Jessamy nodded, but said nothing. Merida, Ross and the others in Threlkeld were none of Mpenzi's business and the fewer that knew about the little community the better, she thought.

Mpenzi glanced at a sheet of paper on the desk, "It says here you score in the top ten percent in just about everything. You're a fucking crack shot with not only an SA80 but an MP5 and any handgun you pick up. You're a natural when it comes to fieldcraft and foraging and your, um ... unarmed combat skills aren't too shabby either ..."

Mpenzi smirked and brushed a fingertip across her swollen split lip.

Jessamy reddened, "Sorry about that Sergeant."

"Please, Lupita."

"Sorry about that Lupita."

"Well I guess I gave you a bruise or two too eh?"

Jessamy nodded. She held Mpenzi's gaze as the black woman stared at her intently. What would she say? How would she react if her sergeant suddenly leaned forward and kissed her? Asked her to strip and get in the bed? Part of her felt shocked by the possibility of betraying her friend Merida's trust. But another part, the part that kept drawing her attention inexorably back to Mpenzi's taught nipples and smooth brown skin, wanted it.

Yearned for it. Maybe Mpenzi wasn't that bad after all.

Jessamy pressed her thighs together and felt heat colouring her cheeks as Mpenzi took a breath to speak ...

"Have you ever flown in a helicopter?"

Jessamy took a second to process the question. She'd been expecting something along the lines of 'Have you ever had sex with another woman?' or 'You're a very attractive girl, can I kiss you?' but not 'Have you ever flown in a helicopter?'

She couldn't help but feel a frisson of disappointment.

"Uh, no. No, I haven't."

Woodvale's Chinook and two Merlins weren't there for everyday scavenging or anti-Reiver missions. There was barely enough fuel or spare parts available any more to keep them airworthy so they were maintained and kept flight ready for emergencies only.

"I've been asked by the base commander to put together a squad," Mpenzi told her in a hushed tone, "myself and five others will fly south and be dropped on the outskirts of Gloucester. I'll be in command of the mission so it's up to me who I choose. I want the best."

Jessamy squirmed. She had a vague idea where Gloucester was from perusing the road atlas she'd stolen. It was south. The direction she wanted to go in. But if she went along to get closer to her goal and somehow managed to slip away, the penalty for desertion was still death. Besides, she'd joined the army to have a greater chance of locating Bromden's mysterious control centre for the planet's system of defence satellites. She certainly hadn't counted on being handpicked for secret missions, "I'd rather not if you don't mind ..."

Mpenzi leaned forward and gently placed a hand on Jessamy's knee, "I guessed as much. You're not a team player. You don't get involved. The others in your platoon know absolutely nothing about you. On a mission like this you're more likely to be a liability than an asset. But I've seen you in action Beech. You're not particularly brave but you're not stupid either ... two things that could get you killed. You're cautious, but also willing to take justifiable risks. I respect that. And I want someone who can shoot. So, are you in?"

Jessamy felt the heat of Mpenzi's hand through the materials of her uniform trousers. Her gaze flickered momentarily to the older woman's impressive chest, straining against the faded cotton of her t-shirt ...

"Wh-who else have you picked?"

Mpenzi laughed and slapped Jessamy's leg, "HAH! See what I mean? Cautious. You don't want to be lumbered with a bunch of macho cunts who'll get us all killed the first fucking firefight we get into."

Jessamy raised an eyebrow.

Mpenzi continued, "Weitzman, Sikorsky ..."

Two of the shits who'd tried to rape her on the beach four months previously. Jessamy took a breath to tell Mpenzi no ...

"Seoras McEwan you know, he'll be my XO ..."

Jessamy closed her mouth. At least if Seoras were along too he could watch her back.

"... and Corporal Nethybridge from Comms."

Jessamy knew of the timid, bespectacled blonde Corporal Nethybridge but she'd never had reason to speak to her, "She's ... not much of a fighter Sergeant."

Mpenzi nodded, "She's the only one who wasn't my choice. Brass ordered me to take her along."

"Wh-what is the mission exactly?" Jessamy stammered, puzzled. A flight all the way south to Gloucester in one of their priceless helicopters with a geeky communications officer who barely ever touched a weapon. This was certainly no simple scavenging raid.

"Can't tell you until we're airborne. We'll be gone for a week, tops. If we're successful, we stay in Gloucester and set up an FOB. If we're unsuccessful, a Merlin will extract us from a predetermined location and bring us home."

Jessamy scoffed at the word 'home' - this had never been her home, and it never would be. Her home was in Cornwall. With her family, if any of them apart from Ross had survived.

But, Gloucester ...

If she went along and managed to get away from Mpenzi and the others, she'd only be two hundred miles from home. A helicopter could cover the distance in a fraction of the time it would take to walk to Gloucester. And the sooner she'd found out one way or another whether her parents still lived, the sooner she could get back north to Threlkeld. To Merida, and her brother, Ross.

"Okay," Jessamy nodded. Her voice sounded like someone else's to her ears, "I'm in."

"Good," Mpenzi grinned, "now since the whole camp thinks I called you up here to fuck you, why don't we get into bed?"

Jessamy's jaw dropped. Her suspicions had been right all along.

"HAH! I'm messing with you Jessamy Beech. You're a pretty girl. But as we're leaving tomorrow morning I think it's more important we both get some sleep. Get your stuff together and be at Hangar One at 0600."

Jessamy smiled nervously and stepped towards the door. They were leaving so soon?

"Oh and Jessamy?" Mpenzi called.

"Yes Sergeant?"

"Tell no-one."

"Yes Sergeant. Good night Sergeant."

"Good night. Maybe some other time eh?"

. . .

Jessamy slept fitfully that night. On the top deck of an old Southport bus that had been requisitioned and repurposed as accommodation, there wasn't a lot of privacy or personal space. She was only glad that the other nine recruits on the same deck were all female. Nevertheless the still of the night was still punctuated by snores, farts and the rambling murmurs that came from bad dreams.

What would await them in Gloucester? Would she be able to slip away from the others to make her way down to Cornwall? What was the importance of the mission that it merited the use of one of their precious helicopters?

Jessamy tried to empty her mind and sleep. But the more she tried, the more it filled with images of what she had to look forward to. Blurry, half remembered pictures of her parents' faces. Their dogs - Frodo and Chester, both probably long dead - maybe even eaten for food. Her brother Ross - as he was back then, laughing and chasing her with damp fronds of seaweed, and as he was now ...

An image of Ross as he stood over her, eyes closed in purest ecstacy as sticky ropes of his hot semen splashed her laughing face ...

Jessamy jolted fully awake. She'd fucked her own brother. Many times. And she'd loved every minute of it. If she'd never found out that Ewan was in fact her long lost older brother Ross, she would've carried on too. Giving in to lust. Fucking him and Merida until they all fell asleep exhausted in each others' arms. Or until she fell pregnant, as Merida had.

She was tempted to make her escape right there and then. Get dressed and take her chances. Go north and return to Threlkeld and somehow pretend the last few months had never happened. Jessamy became aware that her hand was cupping a breast under the covers, the calloused thumb teasing her nipple into tumescence as she pictured Ross.

"Fuck," Jessamy swore and rolled over, feeling guilty, disgusted and deliciously horny in equal parts. She really needed to get some sleep ...

. . .

A gradual brightening of the sky was the only indication that a new day had dawned. After Thanatos, brilliant orange sunrises were a thing of the past. A wet mixture of snow and grey ash fell silently from the overcast sky as Jessamy lugged her bergen across the cracked runway to Hangar One.

Ammunition, rations, bivvy bag, water purifier and everything she'd need for a week out in the field all squeezed into one enormous rucksack.

The scuffed and patched Merlin helicopter that was to be their transport was already outside. Ground crew scurried around making last minute checks, securing access panels and ensuring the aircraft's onboard weapons were loaded.

Mpenzi nodded a greeting and yanked the helicopter's side door open with s squeal of warped metal, "Glad you could make it Beech. You know McEwan, Weitzman and Sikorsky don't you?"

Seoras nodded grimly and buckled the chin strap of his kevlar helmet. Jessamy noticed Weitzman nudge Sikorsky in the ribs and wink at her. These two were going to be trouble.

"Anyone seen Corporal Nethybridge?" Mpenzi called.

"Last I saw she was heading for the shithouse looking white as a sheet," smirked Weitzman.

"Nerves musta got the better of her. Fucking pen pusher," laughed Sikorsky.

"Stow it you two," growled Mpenzi.

"Why the fuck are we taking little miss geek anyway Sarge?" Weitzman asked.

"Base commander's orders. That's all you need to know for now," Mpenzi shielded her eyes from the chill breeze as she peered across at the accommodation blocks, "here she comes now."

A small figure struggled towards them through the gusting wind and falling snow, tottering under the weight of an enormous bergen, a laptop bag and an SA80.

"Beech, go help her," Mpenzi barked, "or we'll be waiting all fucking day."

Jessamy threw her own rucksack onboard the Merlin and jogged over to meet Nethybridge.

"Take that for you?" Jessamy didn't wait for an answer but eased the straps of the corporal's bergen off her shoulders.

"Th-thanks," Nethybridge panted. She was petite, even shorter than Jessamy, and probably not much older, she guessed. But with her thin bony limbs - evident even under layers of loose fitting uniform, and pale complexion Nethybridge carried an air of fragility about her. Jessamy noticed a faint telltale whiff of vomit.

"I uh, get nervous before I fly," Nethybridge stated as if reading Jessamy's mind. She wiped grey snowflakes from her thick glasses with a gloved hand.

"I've never flown," said Jessamy, "I'm Jessamy."

Nethybridge smiled nervously, showing teeth that looked too big for her mouth, "Alison Nethybridge, Comms."

"Good to meet you. Now I think we better get this kit stowed before Sergeant Mpenzi starts getting shitty."

. . .

Minutes later, the Merlin wobbled alarmingly as it lifted off the concrete apron of RAF Woodvale. After hovering for a few seconds to ensure nothing vital was about to fall off the aircraft, the pilot dipped the nose and accelerated forward and up.

Jessamy gripped the tubular steel frame of her fold down canvas seat with white knuckles as the cabin lurched around her. Beside her, Alison Nethybridge was evidently so terrified that tears were running freely down her cheeks.

"Why are you so scared? This isn't too bad," Jessamy shouted over the engine noise.

"These M-merlins haven't been properly maintained since before Thanatos," Nethybridge answered, "there's only a fifty percent chance it won't fall apart in mid-air."

Across the cabin, Weitzman smirked at them and shook his head.

"So Sergeant," Sikorsky called, "you gonna tell us what the fuck we're doing?"

Jessamy peered out of one of the small windows and watched RAF Woodvale and Southport slowly recede in the distance. Somewhere ahead of them lay Liverpool, the charred wreckage of Birmingham, and beyond that ... Gloucester.

"We have intel," Mpenzi began, "about a hidden bunker just outside the city of Gloucester. The Preen brass have reason to believe it's buried under what used to be Royal Air Force Innsworth. Our mission is to locate it and get inside."

"What's in it?" Weitzman blurted.

Jessamy felt an icy finger trace a line down her spine. She couldn't be certain of course but she had a good idea of what might be in the bunker. But surely it couldn't be that easy to find Bromden's control centre. That would just be too much of a coincidence. If what the scientist had told her was true, finding the bunker would be pointless without the access codes known only by a few key personnel anyway.

"Your fuckin' porn collection," laughed Sikorsky.

"Stow it Sikorsky," Mpenzi snarled, "Corporal Nethybridge here will help us gain access if and when we find it. We can then determine whether or not the place is valuable enough to set up a forward operating base."

"An FOB? For what?" Weitzman scoffed.

Mpenzi tapped the side of her nose, "Need to know Weitzman, need to know. Okay people, Gloucester is bound to be swarming with crazies, refugees and factions that might wish us harm. Keep your eyes peeled, wits about you and weapons at the ready at all times. Now relax, we touch down in a couple of hours."

"Easy for you to say," Jessamy heard Nethybridge mutter.

. . .

The Merlin's pilot skirted around Liverpool, flying high over Wirral before heading south east over the ancient town of Chester. To their right, the sky out over the Irish Sea and towards North Wales was as black as ink despite the hour. Jessamy prayed it wasn't another debris storm.

Once her initial misgivings had been dismissed, Jessamy found the whole experience of flying exhilarating. She found it fascinating looking down on everyday things like trees and buildings and seeing them from a different perspective. She tried to ignore the myriad squeaks and groans coming from the aging helicopter's airframe as it made course adjustments however.

South of Chester, the landscape changed. From dead fields, skeletal trees and ruined buildings to a scene of such utter devastation that Jessamy and all her squad were rendered speechless, unable to find the words to describe what they were seeing.

The land was scoured clean, ripped apart, gouged into jagged edged crevasses and canyons that plummeted hundreds of feet down into the blackened depths of the earth. Twisted, melted steelwork - all that remained of tall buildings teetered on the precipices and creaked as they swayed in the wind. Huge fires burned unchecked, turning the sky a sickly greyish brown. Below them nothing lived.

Birmingham ...

"Fuck," whispered Weitzman.

"Yeah, fuck," said Sikorsky, "they finally managed to improve the place."

Mpenzi shot them both a warning look.

. . .

The detour around the wasteland that had been Birmingham added another hour on to the flight. But eventually the Merlin swooped low over the Cotswold escarpment and Jessamy caught her first glimpse of the city of Gloucester.

The destruction here was minimal in comparison. Roads out of the city were choked with abandoned vehicles and human remains. Dead, blackened trees sprouted from grey earth. But most buildings still stood intact, damaged by flames and weapons fire, not by meteorite strikes. Far in the distance, Gloucester's magnificent cathedral still stood virtually unscathed like a beacon of hope. Jessamy had never seen such a beautiful building and wondered how mere men could have possibly built such as thing.

Gloucester had once been a thriving city of over 100,000 people. An important trading centre since Roman times, it now looked deserted.

Beside her Nethybridge made a sound, "Ohshitohshitohshit ..."

"What's wrong?"

"Landing."

"Okay people, get your shit together," Lupita Mpenzi hollered, "outside and on the ground the second we touch down. Defensive perimeter. That goes for you too Nethybridge."

She hoisted her bergen onto one shoulder and slid the side door open as the Merlin banked over the suburb of Hucclecote and headed towards a distant cluster of buildings.

Somewhere above Jessamy's head a loose panel clattered and something began to vibrate, setting her teeth on edge. The Merlin would be at its most vulnerable while on the ground so their first task would be to defend it against possible attack until it was safely back in the air.

"I'll set down on their helipad if I can," shouted the pilot.

The helipad was nothing more than a weed choked field behind a series of large three storey buildings. Jessamy's teeth clacked together as the Merlin landed with a jarring thud.

"Ohmygod, we're all gonna die," squealed Nethybridge.

"Good luck!" shouted the pilot.

Mpenzi snapped off a quick salute then at once leapt through the open door and scrambled away from the helicopter's downdraught, scanning the surrounding buildings through the sight of her SA80. Weitzman and Sikorsky went next, followed by Seoras and Jessamy. Last of all, sitting gingerly on the edge of the doorway before stepping off onto the ground, came Nethybridge.

The six of them watched their surroundings, dilapidated huts, waist high weeds and the abandoned buildings of what had once been RAF Innsworth, until the Merlin was safely aloft and veering northwards. Silence returned.

"Split up. Three pairs. Check these buildings are empty," Mpenzi whispered, "find a defensible place we can spend the night and we'll start searching for the bunker entrance in the morning. Nethybridge, you're with me."

. . .

There was no airfield or any hangars at RAF Innsworth. A decade before it had been the administration hub for all the Royal Air Force's training. Office buildings, stores, gymnasium, MT section ...

Sitting in the middle of Gloucestershire halfway between Cheltenham and the city of Gloucester itself, however had secured its fate. It was considered to be too far removed from the decision makers in London so was closed and handed over to the army. When Thanatos began raining fiery death on the entire planet, it was abandoned and the personnel redeployed to more strategically important establishments.

Jessamy and Seoras had conducted a quick sweep of the main headquarters building and found a corner office on the top floor that commanded a view of much of the camp as well as the main road outside the rusting perimeter fence. Several hours later, after clearing litter and a few dessicated animal corpses from the room, the sky darkened outside as four of them tucked into their rations.