Tony Littlejohns - The Hoffmann Plague

Megan rushed to greet him when he arrived, saying ‘Hi Jamie’ and gave him a hug. He bent down and kissed her, then Max jumped up at him, barking and wagging his tail, and he patted and stroked him.

‘Well, that was a nice welcome! Thank you.’

Megan grinned at him, took his hand and led him through to the kitchen, where Jane was busy working. On the kitchen worktop were the freshly-prepared carcases of four pheasants and three good-sized rabbits. Jane grinned at him and he kissed her.

‘Jamie,’ Megan said excitedly, ‘Jane and I went out hunting this afternoon! We walked all the way to the golf course at Cooden Beach and we hid in the bushes for ages and Jane shot four pheasants and then three rabbits later on. It was so cool! And Max was just brilliant; he didn’t make a sound. He sat there watching, all tensed-up, and then ran out as soon as Jane had shot the pheasants and brought them back.’

Jamie smiled. ‘That’s fantastic Megan, and just what we needed. Well done to all of you!’ He kissed Jane again and then Megan.

Jane said ‘Well, we haven’t done too well recently with meat, so I thought I’d go out for the afternoon to see what I could get. It turned out well, and Megan and Max enjoyed themselves!’

They sat down with a drink and he told them about the work he and Bill had done, and that the range and stove were installed and would be tested the following day. Jane and Megan were pleased and congratulated him. Not long after their evening meal Megan was nodding off, so she went to bed while they sat up and talked. Jamie said he thought it would be a good idea if they went back to the gun store sometime soon to collect the rest of the ammunition for their guns, along with several other weapons, maybe. There was, after all, no point in leaving it all there; extra weapons and ammunition would be useful for the future and they could take everything to the farm. Jane agreed it would be a good thing to do and they went to bed soon after.

On Wednesday morning Jamie and Bill fired up the range and the stove to see if the flues drew well enough and to check for any internal smoke leaks. All seemed fine, though, and they slapped each other on the back for a job well-done. With the range lit the kitchen heated up in no time and they had to open all the windows. The last job on that front was to fit two cowls over the tops of the flues to stop rain coming down them. By Thursday afternoon they had finished building the stud walls and lining them with sheets of plywood. They also made some repairs to the units in the kitchen and added extra shelves for storage.

As the place was a lot smaller than the bungalow and they would be short on storage space, Bill said they could use the unit next door and either put in some cupboards or extra shelving. He told Jamie that it was full of old junk mainly, but hadn’t got around to sorting it out for years. They wouldn’t be able to store clothes or furnishings in there as it was unheated and such things would get damp in cold weather, but they could certainly use it to store preserved food and all of Jamie’s tools could go in there, along with their bikes. Jamie thanked him and said that would be great. They arranged to meet at the retail park the next morning to pick up some more materials. Also, he had promised to take Megan to Halfords to get a bike for her and then take her on to the farm to spend the day with Sally while he was there working. Back at the bungalow he gave Jane and Megan an update on the work progress and they were looking forward to seeing the improvements.

The following morning he and Megan left earlier than they had arranged to meet Bill, to give them time to choose a bike for her. They pulled up outside Halfords and everything looked normal. Jamie had the sawn-off slung over his shoulder and, as usual, he stood in the entrance for a minute listening, just to be sure. It was all quiet, though, so they went in and climbed the stairs to the bike section. Megan looked at all of the bikes suitable for her age and size, and Jamie said she should get the biggest one that she could ride comfortably with the saddle lowered a bit, to give her time to grow into it and be able to use it for a few years. She tried a few and then picked a nice mountain bike in green.

‘This is great; can I have this one, please?’

Jamie looked at the price tag and made a face. ‘Blimey! I’m glad we haven’t got to buy this!’ Megan laughed and smiled up at him. While they were there he picked up a couple of spare inner tubes, a stirrup pump and some puncture repair kits then carried the bike out to put in the back of the BMW.

‘I need to go to Wickes to look at some things now, honey, and that’s where we’re going to meet Bill.’

‘Okay,’ she replied cheerily.

They walked off round the corner, chatting about her new bike. She was excited and couldn’t wait to ride it. ‘It’ll be great – I’ll be able to ride along the promenade and take Max for runs.’

They reached the corner of the warehouse when Megan said she needed to pee. Jamie pointed her to some bushes by the fence, set back a little between the buildings, while he wandered away a few yards and turned his back.

Seventy yards away to his left, out of his line of sight, two figures came out of Wickes and saw him. It was two of the guys they had encountered at Battle and they recognised him straight away. One had a shotgun over his shoulder and he was the one who’d been injured when Jane shot his baseball bat on their last visit. He scowled angrily then swore, swung the shotgun down and started to raise it to his shoulder.

At that moment Megan came out and saw them. She screamed ‘Jamieee!’ and he span round. She ran into him, knocking him over just as the shotgun went off. The blast caught her instead of him, knocking her off her feet and flinging her backwards like a rag-doll. She hit the ground hard and lay there unmoving. Jamie scrambled to his feet, looking in horror at Megan’s crumpled body.

‘Nooooo!’ he screamed. He heard an engine start and rev loudly. Neither of them had seen the red pickup parked behind an abandoned van outside the store. The truck took off, heading for the exit opposite him.

Jamie had always been a fairly calm and even-tempered man. He’d never been in trouble in his youth and hadn’t been the kind to get into fights, but now blind rage erupted in him like never before and completely overtook him. He bent down, picked up the sawn-off and ran to intercept the truck as it neared the exit, screaming and swearing like a madman. It swerved by him just feet away; he raised the shotgun and fired both barrels through the open window, hitting the driver full in the head and face. The out-of-control vehicle smashed into a lamp-post with steam coming from the shattered radiator.

The other guy climbed from the wreckage, his face a mess and covered in both his own blood and that of his mate. He stumbled, trying to bring the shotgun to bear on Jamie, but couldn’t see properly because of the blood in his eyes. Jamie broke open the sawn-off, ejected the spent cartridges, then scrambled frantically in his pocket to get two more and loaded them into the gun. He raised it to his shoulder and fired both barrels again, barely feeling the huge recoil. The blast took the guy in the centre of his chest and he flew backwards and hit the ground. He didn’t bother checking if they were dead – it was obvious.

He ran back to where Megan’s lifeless body lay and looked down at her in despair. The shotgun fell from his hand and clattered on the ground. The left side of her body, from the neck downwards, was covered in blood. He sank to the ground, lifted her frail, still body and cradled her to his chest, howling and sobbing for this beautiful young girl who had come into their lives and given them such joy.