Them-2 - Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty Three – St Peter Port, Guernsey

Dorbec placed his hand over the phone and glanced over at Hamish who was thoroughly enjoying a large sandwich. Hamish looked up with a mouth stuffed with cheese and bread. “Wot?” he asked, seeing the look on Dorbec’s face? A few pieces of cheese and bread flew out of his jaws into his cup of tea resting on the counter.
“There’s been a sighting,” Dorbec blanched. “North shore, near the place where the cows went missing.”
“That was five bloody months ago!” Hamish blurted. “Must be another one of the beasts come flying in. What kind of sighting?”
“Helicopter patrol flew over some pasture land along the north shore. Pilot reported seeing eight or nine of the ants in a field butchering a herd of cattle. He flew in circles and watched the beast carry the parts to a small cave entrance in the rocky cliffs along the beach. Before leaving, he landed in the field and placed a red marker flag to identify the location of the nest.”
“Pilot’s got a pair of balls,” Hamish replied. “That was good work and quick thinking. There’s a zillion small caves in those cliffs and we’d never be able to find the one the buggers fled back into.”
“I’ll send a couple armored personnel carriers from La Fontenelle,” Dorbec replied. “If they can locate the exact nest opening maybe we can pour gas and diesel down inside it and burn the monsters out.”
“Yes, and get word to Sir Geoffery,” Hamish added. “He wants to know if there are any sightings, no mater how small they may appear to be. I’ll contact the television station and have them broadcast an alert warning for that area.”
During their news broadcast several months earlier they had established an emergency notification system advising the public of the steps to take in the event the giant ants made a landfall on the island.
“Wait!” Dorbec held up his hand. “There’s another sighting in Richmond.” Hamish almost choked on his sandwich when he noticed two of the volunteers holding up their telephones. “A sighting in Les Buttes,” one stated. “Sightings in Torteval and St. Sampson!” the other volunteer yelled.
“My god!” Hamish exploded. “They’re bloody everywhere.” St. Sampson was only a few kilometers north of St. Peter Port. “How in ‘ell did they keep hidden for so long?” He glanced at Dorbec.
Unknown to Hamish or Dorbec or the people of Guernsey, the queen they spotted five months earlier was solely responsible for the massive infestation. Upon landing on the island she became aware that her mating flight had been incomplete and she received very little of the sperm necessary to lay eggs. Subsequently, she regressed into a latent form of producing clonial offspring, an extreme of sexual reproduction seen in Wasmannia auropunctata, where the queens produce diploid daughters by thelytokous parthenogenesis. Over the succeeding months, she produced several queens and several drones. They mated and began the expansion of the colony. The limestone caves beneath the island were extensive and ran for miles and miles. Unknown to the inhabitants, the ants constantly fed on livestock, algae, field grain, and the large bird populations, but at a very slow rate. The queen decided the time was ripe to feast on the huge human resources of the island so she sent her foragers out by the thousands from hundreds of openings all around the island.
“Report to Castle Cornet immediately,” Sir Geoffery ordered, as soon as Hamish advised him of the massive ant infiltration. “And make sure your families make it. I will call the television station and have them broadcast the word to evacuate to the boats or to the castle if people can make it.”
They all knew there were not enough boats to hold sixty thousand people, there were not enough boats for half that number.
“Get your families and go to Castle Cornet,” Hamish told the volunteers. Part of their reward for volunteering was safe passage to the castle where it was hoped they could keep the ants at bay. Once the engineers had blown the only land access, the castle would be completely surrounded by the ocean.
Forty minutes later Dorbec and his wife Chantal, with their son Arnaud and daughter Aurelie met Hamish and his wife Iona, son Wallace and daughter Rowan at the peninsula leading to Castle Cornet. The Royal Marines had thrown up a barrier of concertina wire and posted sentries at the only entrance that led to the castle. Special passes had been issued to those civilian personnel who were to be admitted to the island. Although Sir Geoffery would have preferred to allow everyone to seek the safety of the castle, common sense dictated that resources and space could only sustain a limited number of people.
As they entered the sally port to the castle, they noticed that the Royal Marines had erected a large number of tents to house the expected influx of refuges. The royal family was quartered in the Hatton Gallery in the upper barracks building. Due to their volunteer and liaison status, Hamish and Dorbec and their families were directed to the museum shop located in the old guard house and refectory. They were given small rooms adjacent to Café Lambert, a small restaurant that served light meals and refreshments. Hamish spent a lot of time in the small café when he worked as a tour guide and reenactor.
The castle often put on shows reflecting the history of the area. Tourists were entertained by Marius the slave, shipwrecked on the Island in Roman times or met Lady Margaret, a Tudor Lady on a visit to Castle Cornet. Tourist learned about Pirates and Privateers and the terrible explosion that destroyed the Castle Keep and heard the extraordinary tale of the steam ship ‘Stella’, wrecked off Alderney in 1899 and they meet Victorians speaking the local language, Guernsey French. They heard the tale of the Uncrowned King and the story of a soldier from the besieged garrison during the English Civil War and discovered Guernsey’s great hero - James de Saumarez. There was even a Lady Tar! They learned of the gravedigger who told about the Cholera epidemic and met the Milititia Man at Fort Grey. Hamish often participated in these reenactments and played the part of a Scottish kinght.
As soon as the families deposited their meager belongings they went to the battlements to observe the steady stream of people moving through the Royal Marine checkpoint. Hamish left to find Sir Geoffery. They also noticed the small, but growing knot of people who were refused entrance. Dorbec felt sorry for them, however, the castle could hold only so many people.
As they watched, a small wave of several hundred people poured onto the causeway leading out to the castle. The Royal Marines quickly pulled the barrier across to prevent them from flooding into the castle. As they drew closer Hamish could see several huge ants behind them. A number of people were caught by the ants and torn to pieces. The sudden feast encouraged the ants to halt and start devouring the bits and pieces.
“Mon Dieu. Ces pauvres personnes!” Chantal Dorbec screamed.
The Royal Marines quickly removed the barrier and waved for the terrified mob to hurry through to the safety of the castle. As soon as the last person was through, the marines lit a trench soaked with diesel then ran for safety. They knew the flimsy wire barrier would not hold the ants and the flames would only stop them until the diesel ran out.
Several minutes later, the causeway was full of the ugly monsters. The roaring flames from the diesel fires worked. Several ants got too close to the fire and were pushed into it by the pressure of the ants behind them. The remaining ants were intelligent enough to back away from the flames.
Suddenly, a huge explosion rippled through the air creating a small earthquake throughout the castle. The causeway erupted into the air sending tons of concrete and dirt and pieces of ant splashing out into the harbour. The Marines had detonated the explosives to cut the land bridge to the castle. Foaming water poured into a wide gap several hundred feet wide. Royal Navy jets suddenly screamed in from sea and dropped canisters of napalm and more explosives on the remaining ants along the causeway. Another several hundred feet was destroyed allowing the ocean to reclaim the area.
“They’re from the Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales,” Hamish stated as he rejoined them on the battlements. “Both supercarriers are located about ten miles off shore.”
Hamish was referring to two of Britain’s recently launched aircraft carriers, 65.600-ton ships and the pride of the Royal Navy. They were equivalent in size to the American Nimitz Class carriers and fitted with thirty-six F-35 fighter planes and thirty-eight other aircraft. Although they were non-nuclear, they had a range of ten thousand miles.
As they watched, a Royal Marine helicopter landed inside the castle. “They’re ere to pick up the Royal Family,” Hamish nodded. “The government did not think Guernsey would be infested by the monsters but, since we are they’re moving the Royal Family to the Queen Elizabeth.”
“And what about the people on Guernsey?” Dorbec asked. “And the people inside this castle?”
Hamish nodded toward St. Peter Port. “Obviously the ants are taking over the island.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea what plans they ave for us.”
“First thing we need to do is get a headcount of how many people made it to the castle,” Sir Geoffery stated as he joined them at the battlements. “We know many more came in than was planned for. We couldn’t leave them at the mercy of those creatures.”
“And we thought we had everything under control,” Dorbec spat. “In less than two hours we lost the entire island. Can you imagine what the people there are going through?”
Sir Geoffery nodded. He had a mournful look on his haggard face and a deep sadness in his eyes. They watched as scores of small boats landed on the castle island and started to disgorge their passengers. The entire castle would be filled in no time from the masses fleeing the main island. Food and fresh water resources would run out quickly.
“Got word that Jersey and many of the smaller islands have fallen also,” he muttered. “The creatures are everywhere.”
Hamish and Dorbec looked at the man. The fact that he had not demanded to be withdrawn along with the Royal Family was testament to his ability as a leader. He was the type of commander who went down with his ship.
As they continued to watch Sir Geoffery received a call on his private cell phone which, amazingly enough still worked. He walked off a few paces to talk with the caller in private. The conversation lasted for several minutes before he closed the phone and put it in his pocket and strolled back over to where the others were quietly standing.
“Pack you bags,” he looked at both men. “A helicopter will be here directly to evacuate you and your families.”
“Just us?” Dorbec asked.
“You and a few other people. I will, of course, remain behind.”
Hamish looked at him with curiosity. “Where are we going?”
Sir Geoffery grinned. “The admiralty has decided that you two are needed for a special mission, that’s all they would tell me.”
“We just failed the last one,” Hamish stated. “Everything we did to secure the island was wasted. It was as if the damn creatures knew our plans and sucker punched us.”
“We’re living in a nightmare world,” Sir Geoffery glanced at the four children. “Mankind may be nearing extinction. Whatever can be done, I know you two will do it. Hail Britannia!”