He was pleased when he saw the bartender there, he wasn’t sure why that pleased him, he just seemed less threatening then the sheriff, and he had come across more friendly that anyone else he had met, but he was still a resident of Underwood, a place where no one could leave, maybe the guy in front of him could give him some answers.

Craig opened the letter box flap in the cell door and passed Peter a sandwich and a bottle of water

‘thought you might need these’ he told him, he had a forced smile on his face, he had a look of a man who didn’t want to be there, Peter recognised the look and suspected his own face told the same.

Peter took the sandwich and water, he nodded his thanks, Craig sat on the chair, Peter took a bite out of his ham sandwich, it was surprisingly good, and neither man spoke for a while, he sipped the water as if he hadn’t drunk for a day and for some surreal moment Peter regarded it as a dying man’s last meal, he coughed as he swallowed the water, and the only thoughts he could think of was ‘I’ll go down fighting’

‘What is this place’ Peter asked from inside his cell,

‘It used to be public toilets, still got a bit of a pissy smell about it’ answered the bar tender,

‘I mean this place, Underwood’ what is it’,

Craig knew what he meant, he was trying to avoid the question, because he wasn’t sure what answer to give, it had been a long time since they had new residents, he particularly didn’t want any new residents, he hated meeting new people just to watch them go downhill and perish, he swore he would never get close to new residents again, he chose his words carefully.

‘If you’re male and live by the rules, it’s a fine place to live’, as he said it he realised he had not chosen them that carefully, he chastised himself and looked away so as not to catch Peter’s eyes.

Two things stood out to Peter in what he had just heard “live” and “male”, he shivered not for the first time that day, probably not for the last.

‘And if your female’ asked Peter,

Craig wished he hadn’t come here now, he licked his lips, wishing he had brought himself some water, he shuffled uncomfortably in his chair, Peter offered him his drink through the hatch, Craig took it, took a swig and handed it back,

‘It’s not a good place for young women, particularly your daughter’s age’ Craig himself shivered, forever thankful that he had no children, or at least none he could call his own, his memory went back to when he was younger, memories that would not die.

‘They are breeding machines, they are impregnated and the babies are taken away’ he paused ‘well some are taken away’

Peter thought of Lily, his face went white, he had to get out, he had to get to Lily, and Craig noticed his ashen look,

‘How old’s your daughter’

’14, 15 next month’

‘She looks older’

‘That’s her age’

‘Then providing the vicar believes that she will be okay until she’s 16’ he spat out the words as if cursing them.

Somehow that brought a little comfort to Peter, but that comfort just compounded the situation he had found himself in, there was no way he was going to be in Underwood for that length of time, to even think of it seemed ridiculous.

‘What happens to the babies’ he asked, not really wanting to know the answer,

Craig shrugged again, unsure why he was telling him all this, he felt uncomfortable in doing so, it wasn’t his job, he was just the barman, ‘some you see about, some you never see around’ he told Peter.

Peter grabbed his cell bars with both hands as if trying to prize them apart, his nostrils flared, he gritted his teeth,

‘And how do you leave Underwood’

Craig stood up, there was an uneasy grimace on his face,

‘They say the woods, but you really wouldn’t want to go in the woods’

Peter came back immediately ‘what’s in the woods’ he asked Craig,

Craig’s expression changed, his shoulders sank, and for the first time Peter noticed Craig looked a beaten man, ‘no one’s ever lived to tell’ he said,

They both stood in silence, trying to take in what was just said, it was as if Craig had not heard it before, but of course he had, he never wanted to speak about the woods, it had taken so much away from the town’ he offered his hand to Peter through the bars of the cell, Peter accepted the gesture and they shook hands,

‘We are not all bad around here’ he told Peter and Craig turned to leave, Peter called his name, Craig turned around,

‘Could someone check on my wife and kids’ he pleaded,

‘Sure’ he answered, and Craig left the prison, hating every inch of the town he lived in.

Chapter 5

The wooden floor sports hall was full of the residents of Underwood, when the courts stood all able bodied residents were expected to attend, most did to scared not to, but some didn’t, that was mainly those who were not bothered with the consequences, to the far end of the sports hall was a stage, beside the stage was a metal cage, raised from the ground on a temporary platform, it had brought back a lot of bad memories for some of those that stood there and watched, the others had somehow managed to blank it from their minds, but sometimes it would come back to haunt them, inside the cage stood Peter Ford, the newest resident of Underwood who had the audacity to punch the ruling sheriff, and as people looked on most had only a secret admiration for the man that stood before them, some wished they had the same courage as the man who stood caged like a wild animal, in the short time Peter Ford had been in Underwood he had gained a lot of respect as the news of him hitting the sheriff spread, he had gained a lot of friends and admirers, but it was the enemy’s he may have had that will come back to haunt him, that’s what everyone was thinking in the hall, there were no martyrs in Underwood, just sacrificial lambs.

Peter had been taken to the hall by the two deputies who had taken him to his cell, this time there was no fight, and the deputy’s showed signs of remorse, at the time Peter noticed their vulnerability, the look of defeat on their faces that they both showed, not comrades in arms, more like comrades facing defeat, surrendering from the last battle, wondering why they were fighting the war at all, Peter stood in his cage, staring down at the onlookers, and the eyes that he did meet always turned away, he gripped the bars tightly in an act of defiance as he looked around the hall, then his grip loosened and the tension running through his body released as he saw them and his heart sunk and he felt a knotting in the pit of his stomach, at the back of the hall stood beside Craig Jones was Peter’s family, Eileen, Nathan and Lily, he could see the fear etched on their faces, but at least they were alive and seemingly well, he just wanted to be with them, to reassure them, to protect them, he wanted to reach out just to caress their faces, most of all he needed to plan his way out of the crazy world he somehow found himself in, he wasn’t going to mess this up, he couldn’t, his family depended on it.

Craig had, as promised gone to look in on Peter’s wife and children, and it tugged at his heart strings to find them sat in the house shaking in fear, he could see the tear stains on their faces, a family that had simply walked into another world, a world not of their own, a world they did not deserve to be in, Craig had tried to assure them as much as he could that everything would be okay, but he hadn’t believed it himself, not for a long time had he believed it, and he knew the three he talked to believed not one word of his reassurance, and for that moment he put himself part of the blame for creating this horrible town. he hoped there would never be any new residents and they would all just die off and this world would disappear, but there had been, a family taken from their own world into the world of Underwood, with all its torment and horror, he had escorted them to the centre to where Peter would be, that’s all he could do, he just hoped he had done the right thing, to have a father and husband die is one thing, to watch them die was completely off the scale.