The Lone White Wolf

Chaper Four

***Next Day***

I jump up when I hear a knock on the door, I look at Robert and Derek and motion one of them to help me hide all of these documents while the other deals with whoever is at the door. I put the documents into my room and walk back into the living room to see that it is only guy from the front desk.

“Hi, how can we help you?” I ask politely.

“Well, first off, I have the bill for your monthly rent for the flat you requested I bring up once it was ready and secondly, I got a complaint of loud noises.” He states handing us the bill.

“Oh, right thanks and yes sorry I threw a torch at the wall out of anger and frustration due to the war that is going on. It will not happen again, or I will leave a note somewhere the other tenants can see it, so they do not have to worry.” I reply apologetically.

“Okay thanks well I will be off as my mother needs help back at hers. I will drop by in a couple of weeks to collect the rent off of you.” He speaks.

“Oh, I hope she is okay and sure I’ll make sure I have it ready for you.” I say and he walks back out of the flat and heads down to the ground floor in the elevator.

We get back to what we were doing once closing the door of course, I place the bill papers on the chair and collect the documents from my bedroom so we can go through the translation and see what it is meant to be. I place the documents on the coffee table and place the notepad in the middle so we can all see it; we notice the same thing about the notes that it is just a bunch of instructions as what to do with the plans. Robert places his phone with an image of Durham 10 years ago and I compare it to the image of the map that was watermarked amongst the written documents (I took a picture of it to make it easier to do the comparison); they look practically identical except there are a few sections marked on the watermark map which appear to be some old factories that were abandoned a few years back. I wonder if these are where it all started for this war to kick off the way it has. I leave the written documents and the note translations to the boys to deal with while I take the plan blueprint and the UV torch to try and translate the text that is hidden behind it. I take them to the kitchen table and leave them to it.

“Hey Derek since you are the only one with money could you kindly pop to the store and get a dozen notebooks, please so I can translate this blueprint.” I ask nicely.

“Sure, I will make sure they are all A4 this time as A5 did not make the cut with the last translation.” Derek says sarcastically.

“Thanks, you’re a darling.” I reply. While Derek goes to the shop I sneak up on Robert and give him a hug from behind then burst into laughter as he jumps out of his skin with fright. He turns around to look at me and grabs me to embrace me in a tight hug. I look up at him and give him a kiss which turns into a make out session on the couch. It must have lasted around an hour seeing as I heard a key turn in the door and push Robert off and told him to stay quiet. The door opened to reveal a Derek carrying two bags which makes me relax.

“Sorry to scare you I did text telling you how long I was going to be, but I guess you didn’t get my message.” Derek says while closing the door.

“Erm sorry no was a little preoccupied.” I reply as he passes me the bag that contained the notebooks in, and I go and place them on the kitchen table all prepared to be written in with translations. Derek and Robert go back to the coffee table with the written documents to see if they can find anything else from them leaving me to get on with the translation of the plan blueprints. I partially shift into Kia and sit at the kitchen table with a notebook and pen in front of me with the blueprints lightened up with the UV torch preparing for me to magically translate the hidden text. I stare at the prints for about five minutes before my hand starts to pick up the pen and put it to paper making words come out in English; just like last time I just let it flow uninterrupted as I do not want to lose the concentration since I cannot translate this normally as I do not know this god forsaken language.

After a couple of hours pass by and I am done with the translation to the point where my hand hurts; I look at the notebooks to see that I went through one and a half of them. Let us just hope this make sense and is not just a set of instructions that lead to the mass destruction that is going on outside. I take the notebooks over to the coffee table with the boys and place them down.

“Well, that’s the plans translated now I suggest we should get some sleep otherwise we won’t be able to function properly.” I say while stretching and yawning.

“I agree I am completely shattered, so I bid you two goodnight and shall see you when I wake.” Derek says while getting up and heading to his room.

“Night Derek make sure to get plenty of sleep. So, you coming to bed Robert or you just going to stare at those documents aimlessly?” I ask Robert.

“No, I’m coming to bed before I break down and sleep here.” He replies. Me and Robert head to bed where we both pass out as soon as our heads touch the pillows.

***13 hours later***

I wake up feeling much better than I was yesterday, I get up and go to the bathroom to take a shower only to be joined by Robert.

“Excuse me what do you think you’re doing?” I question.

“I think I am taking a shower with my beautiful fiancé to save water as Derek is the only one currently with money.” He replies.

“You are sure you are not trying to get some action as it has been a while.” I speak.

“Nope possibly try tonight for that.” Robert says as I get out and get dressed. I go outside to get some fresh air only to be face with someone throwing a grenade my way, so I pick it up and throw it away just before it explodes, since I like to live and to have somewhere to live for the mean time. The war just keeps getting worse right in front of my eyes which causes pain inside of me which urges me to find a solution even more. I look around to see there are children running around trying to make some sort of fun in the midst of the chaos and I would rather have those children have fun in a world of peace without all this major conflict between the populations of towns.

I head back inside to have a look at the maps to identify the abandoned factories then plan a trip back to Durham to het this planet back to the beautiful peaceful place it was before. Where the only conflict was between governments who could not agree on anything unless it was war against a particular country. I hear Derek get up out of bed and head into the kitchen probably to get a coffee to help with that last touch of waking up completely; Robert decided to go for a walk in the forest this morning to clear his head before we got back to the serious stuff that involves those damn documents.

“Derek feeling much better after that refreshing sleep last night?” I ask not looking up.

“I feel so refreshed thanks, well I am going to go to the shops to get some food in as it looks like we may be going on a trip by the look in your eye.” He states while sitting down to finish his coffee.

“Possibly once I have figured out the names and locations of these abandoned buildings that have been highlighted on the watermark map.” I state.

“Well, I shall see you in a couple of hours as I will need to pop to the bank to get two months’ worth of rent out to leave for the desk boy to collect when he comes as t seems like it may be a long trip.” Derek says getting up to put his cup in the kitchen.

“Probably best oh and see if you can set up a direct debit with them in case, we care gone longer than 2 months, at least then we have somewhere to come back to, when he does come to get it.” I exclaim.

Derek heads into his room to get dressed before heading out into town. I use my phone and use photo recognition on Google to see if it could pinpoint the factories’ locations. After about half an hour I managed to get three out of the four locations found seeing as the fourth factory looks to have been demolished last year would make finding any evidence just that bit harder. Robert walks in the door to see me on the floor deep in thought with the documents spread out around me and decides to join me on the floor.

“Celeste, what are you doing?” He asks.

“Just locating these factories, I have managed to get the locations of all but only three of the four are still standing and in some sort of stability condition; the fourth was demolished last year.” I explain.

“Okay I better pack us both a small bag for this trip then.” Robert says getting up.

“Probably best to as Derek has gone out to get us some food and money to pay two months’ rent.” I say as I write down the locations of the factories and place the documents in a box underneath my bed for the time being until I find somewhere secure to put them as the wardens will be coming through this town at some point. I hear the front door open, and I walk to the bedroom door to see that it is only Derek.

With everyone back in the flat I grab the box of documents and the locations of the factories, while the other two grab everything we need for the long journey back to Durham. I place the envelope of rent money on the chair near the door and leave a note attached to the outside of the flat door for the desk boy saying he can just enter and collect the rent and that we are going to be on a trip for two months and to set up a direct debit after that just in case we aren’t back in two months. We set off in the truck on the motorway heading back in the direction we originally came with slight worry in our minds as this could end up being a dead end or the solution to our problem. After a few hours we take a break in an old service station and take a nap before we exhaust ourselves completely.

***3 hours pass***

We all wake up suddenly to the sound of people walking around the place; I see flashlights go past the window which sends fear through me. I motion the lads to hide in the back cupboard which is somewhere that is normally overlooked while I went and hid under the counter to keep an eye out for the people who are walking around searching for something. Once the coast is clear I knock on the cupboard door to let the guys know, we grab some snacks from the shelves, some bottled water and place them in bags from under the counter before carrying on with our journey.

***2 hour later***

We finally reach Durham to see that it is still abandoned which is quite creepy actually but at the same time satisfying.

“Okay well we will each take an address and spread out to find these factories as they seem to be within a 15-mile radius of the city centre. Just stay low as there is a possibility the wardens may do a check over each cleared towns and cities.” I explain handing the guys a piece of paper with an address on.

“Okay take a bag of food and drink each as well as we could be here for hours searching. Every hour that passes group text, so we all know each other is safe and our locations for safety. If one does not check in, we drop what we are doing and go looking.” Derek explains taking the paper and picking up a bag of food.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Robert says grabbing the other sheet of paper and a bag of food.

“Well good luck everyone when it starts to get dark, we’ll meet up at a safe spot, I’ll sniff out a safe place and message the location.” I say grabbing the last bag of food. With all of that being said we set off in our own way to start factory searching. I head off past my parent’s old house and up the back way towards the retail parks to see if I can find this factory; by its address it seems to be this way. The further I walked the hours passed by, and I am nearing the edge of the fifteen-mile mark and still not found a factory which is abandoned. I walk along the circumference circle marked on the map to see if I can find it. I managed to find some where to stay during the night and messaged the location to the boys.

A couple of hours pass, and the boys finally approach the old service station I managed to find. We get settled down for the night before continuing to find the factories. As the hours pass by, I keep getting this sense that someone is watching us but every time I wake there is no-one there which scares me a little. As I drift back off to sleep, I hear something outside which wakes me up fully, great now I am not getting back to sleep now, so I get up to investigate the sound. I walk quietly to the front door being careful I do not wake the boys up in the process and peer out the window to see a teenage boy lingering in the shelter of the door frame from the rain. I bring forth Kia’s eyes to see if we are in any danger of this boy, but his aura seems to be calm and slightly scare in fact, so I return to my normal eyes before opening the door and offering the boy to come inside.

“Hey, do you want to come in out of the rain?” I whisper to him.

“If you do not mind that would be nice, you do not have to worry I ran away from the wardens as I did not want to be locked up within those so-called safe camps they have around the place.” He whispers as he comes inside.

“May I ask how come you are in Durham as it has been deserted for like the past month since the wardens came though and took everyone away?” I ask in a whisper as I quietly close the door.

“I came here from a factory about a mile from here since they never seem to check the abandoned buildings for anyone, how come you escaped their clutches?” He whispers.

“I walked away after my flat was searched and hid in some houses across the motorway from my flat before driving for 10hrs to a village that hadn’t been tracked through by the wardens yet.” I whisper back. Once they boy was fully inside he perched himself in the far corner away from where we were sleeping so he was not in the way. I go back to lying next to Robert to see if I can get at least a little shut eye before the morning sun comes round and wakes us up naturally.

***3 hours later***

When the sun arose, we all wake up to its warm rays shining through the windows. We all sit up and stretch at the same time and Robert punches me in the face at the same time which makes me let out a low growl.

“Oh, sorry Celeste didn’t realize how close we were to each other.” Robert says apologetically.

“Its fine just watch what you are doing next time.” I retort.

“Guys who is the fella in the corner?” Derek questions.

“It is someone who was using the shelter above the door as somewhere to get out of the rain last night, so I invited him in. It’s okay, he’s fine I made sure before letting him in.” I explain as the boy in the corner finally wakes up to see Robert and Derek staring at him with cautious eyes since they do not entirely trust him. I look over to the boys and shake my head at them.

“Guys play nice it was just one night as we have to be off but first things first, where did you say you came from again?” I ask the unknown buy.

“I came from an abandoned factory a mile out from here.” He states.

“Can you show us where this factory is then you can run along and keep evading the wardens however if your drive 4 hours south on the motorway, you will get to some towns untouched by wardens, you will be safe there.” I suggest.

“Erm okay sure I can show you just as long as we don’t come back as the wardens are doing weekly checks on this place for anyone who escaped them last time.” He states.

We pack up our things and head out in the direction that this teenager is taking us, every so often we duck into a building as a precaution in case the wardens do come through. After about an hour and a half we make it to some abandoned factory just like this guy said (we didn’t take the car so we could keep low), I take my phone out and use Google maps to see if this is one of the factories that we are looking for. I motion to the boy that he can now go as he has done his duty; he scurries off happy to be getting on the move out of the area and away from the wardens. According to Google and the location addresses this is one of the locations we are looking for so we head inside to see if there is anything out of the ordinary that could help us. We spread out to cover the grounds quicker to search for something I have no idea what but something that could help.

“Hey guys I think I may have found something.” Robert shouts. I look in the direction that Robert went with a questionable look but proceeded to walk towards him to see that there is a beacon sitting in the middle of the room. Quite suspicious I may add; I look over to see that Derek has kindly joined us as he had to go to the other end of the building to find anything.

“Wonder what this could be and why it’s just sitting in the middle of the room.” I say puzzled.

“Could be projecting out a frequency that affects the brainwaves to cause destruction.” Derek blurts out.

“That sounds absurd even for you Derek.” I state. I grab the plans out of Robert’s bag and spread them out on the floor; only to see that the diagrams and the beacon look identical which means Derek could be right after all but how do we shut this thing down is the next puzzle.