The Lighthouse P2

Posted on Tue Jun 30th, 2026 @ 5:43pm by Cassandra Lennox & Bartholomew Addington & Lola ‘Myth’ McDowell & René Rouen & Albert 'Bert' Smith & Victoria Bell

2,010 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: The Light House
Location: Lighthouse
Timeline: 18 December 2012, 1630 (4:30pm GMT)

Victoria detached the small box magazine from the scoped rifle and counted three rounds remaining. She had no idea where any spare ammunition was. The sailors had been easy prey for the team of soldiers that had escorted her to this lighthouse, and gathering a horde of the undead to take the blame for the lighthouse crew's demise had been rather simple to gather on the journey from York. Now it was time to play the desperate refugee if this group was indeed from Thistledrift.

Cassandra realised as they reached the final level, and the watched room that would lead up to the light that she never wanted to walk up another flight of stairs ever again. There had been 3 zombies on the way up, but the plan to bring them outside had worked well; the zombies inside were men that she knew, having been sailors from Europa. "It's clear." She called as she lowered her dagger and looked around the relatively clean room.

Bert breathed heavily as the climb up the lighthouse and battling the undead made him realise how unfit he was. "Clear." He replied between breaths as he wiped his sweaty brow on his sleeve before putting his knife back in its sleeve.

René glanced about the room. He was a bit tired from the climb up the tower steps as well.

Victoria stepped out from around some of the lighthouse equipment. She held the rifle at the low ready. "Who are you people? Are you from the ship?"

“We are from the ship.” Cassandra confirmed holding her bow and arrow up just as prepared. “You are the person on the radio?” She demanded.

Victoria nodded. "Yes. I was trying to call for help after the dead br...broke in and killed the sailors stationed here. They had provided me shelter two or three days ago."

“Well now we are all friends. Shall we try and figure out the light situation. Lola? Can you try and establish communication?” Cassandra said quietly to the girl who nodded and moved passed into the control room for the light and where the radio equipment was.

René looked to Cassandra as he hiked a thumb over his shoulder towards the door. "I will heas down to the generator room." He glanced between Bert and Bart for a moment. "I could use some help. At least someone to hold a hand torch while I check the generator."

"I'll go. Can't guarantee ill come back up though. Those stairs are a killer." He replied with a smirk still trying to recover to a normal breathing pattern. "Come on then, frenchy."

René gave a nod as he led the way back down the stairs to the generator room. Getting the generator running would restore the light, radio and, if they were lucky, heat.

Victoria watched as Lola crossed to the radio set up and glanced as René and Albert descended to restore power. She finally turned her gaze to Cassandra and Bartholomew. She studied them both for a long moment before stepping towards the man and handed him the scoped rifle. "You must have been a soldier or constable. You have the same demeanor my late husband had about him."

Bartholomew looked at the scoped rifle and took it. "You did pretty well with it out there," The man commented not letting on which one was correct, but she was in some way.

"So where did you come from to end up here?" Cassandra wondered, looking at the woman as she observed them all. She had the same look on her face, but she knew that the woman was outnumbered, so not a threat at the moment at the very least if she was trouble. Lola glanced up to see the woman looking at her, but carried through to the lantern room. She unloaded her rucksack and set up her equipment that would allow them to connect to the ship that she could just see in the distance.

Victoria sighed softly as she met Cassandra's gaze. "I was living in Nottingham prior to the world ending. I was a radio dispatcher with emergency services, my husband was a constable. We were part of a group of survivors that had taken refuge in Nottingham Castle."

“And I am guessing that did not fare well for you?” Bartholomew asked as Cassandra started to look through the paperwork for signs of what had properly happened there. Something did not feel right but she could not put her finger on it there and then.

Victoria shrugged. "We were doing well until about a year ago. Then a horde of the undead arrived and layed siege. A dozen of us escaped and made our way north. We spent nearly a week on the road. Two died from exposure, one to an attack by the undead, three more, including my husband, to a group of hooligans. We thought we were all going to die when a mounted unit showed up and chased off the hooligans."

The lights overhead flickered and then came back on as the power was restored.

"Looks like we might be getting somewhere. Lola, you good?" Cassandra said, narrowing her eyes at Victoria for a moment before she nodded. "Well, if you have nowhere else we can accept you in if the council agree." She added pointedly that it was not down to her.

"Yeah, I am good. I have contact with the ship." Lola declared loudly, making Cassandra step into the room and take the radio. Barthelomew smiled at Victoria.

"Lennox here," Cassandra spoke into the radio.

Nathan's voice came through the speaker. "Read you loud and clear. We have the beacon in sight. Just keep it running for the next 30 minutes and we can navigate the safe approach."

"Understood." The woman said, hoping and praying they could maintain the light for that long.

-----

Rene entered the generator room, two levels down and shined the light from his hand torch on the generator. "Best to check the fuel bladder and lines first and then check for any damaged components." He slid the pack off his back and moved to start inspection on the machinery.

Bert rubbed his hands together to warm them up a bit. "Im guessing you have some idea about how this works? I've only worked on bikes and buses but this looks like neither." He said with a chuckle as he visually inspected it. "Doesn't look like any new damage has happened."

René gave a short nod. "Oui, a little. Any engine has the same basic components, whether automobile, motorcycle, lawnmower or a generator. Placement varies, but the operating principle is pretty much the same. I've spent the last few years canabilizing parts for my motorcycle to keep it running. Scavenging fuel is becoming harder and harder. I didn't know that petrol has a shelf life until recently. Oxford developed machinery that can run on distilled alcohol."

"Interesting, so I might actually know a thing or two once we get into it." Bert replied with a nod as he looked at the generator. "Distilled alcohol is clever and something that we can do with limited tools." Bert chucked. "Im not sure anyone has the knowledge to start digging for oil."

René nodded. "That would be very useful for Thistledrift." René finished his initial inspection of the generator. He twisted a valve and then opened the fuel bladder and shined his hand torch inside. He extracted the small, plastic fuel can and poured the petrol into the tank. He set the fuel can down and twisted the valve back. He pressed his hand to the starter button. "Pray this works." He pressed the button. The generator coughed once, then a second time, it caught on the third cough and rumbled into operation. The overhead lights slowly brightened.

The noise startled Bert and put him on edge. "Surely thats going to attract unnecessary attention?" He asked referring to the noise.

Rene shrugged. "It's a light house. The beacon is bound to attract more attention than the generator noise will."

Bert laughed "Fair, my friend. Shall we head back up?"

René finished checking a few things on the generator before nodding to Albert. "Oui, allons-y (Yes, let's go)."


---

And they did maintain the light. Cassandra breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the ship enter the bay below them and go further up the estuary. Lola let out a whoop of happiness as the ship blew its horn to let them know they were safe. "Well, that was a good job for us. Unfortunately, we have lost our light, so we will need sleep here."

"Night under the stars my favourite." Barthelowmew declared.

René had trudged up the stairwell to the lighthouse control room after getting the generator running again. He glanced at Bartholomew and shook his head. "We could stay in the bunk room. It will be cold and dark as the fuel bladder only has about fifteen or twenty minutes left. We'll be out of the wind and dry though."

Victoria sighed and nodded her head. "The French boy has a point. We will need to reinforce the ground floor entrances of course."

"I meant in here." Barthelowmew grinned as he pointed up to where the sky was darkening, and stars would be visible soon. For all that the world had ended, it was healing the world, and they could see stars everywhere at night without light pollution. “But I will go and reinforce seeing you have just come all the way back up.”

Cassandra smiled as she started to look through the desks for any information that would explain what happened. She had promised to bring anything important back and lock up the building best she could until the Europa could get people there. “Male yourself useful start tidying up and organising anything we can take back.” She ordered.

“They are through and will make port tonight.” Lola declared from the corner of the room yawning.

Rene looked out the floor to ceiling windows at the sun about to set. He turned to Cassandra. "We should probably think about settling in for the night. Double check the ground floor door again. There is the bunkroom and kitchen area on the level two up from the ground floor. We should probably also consider setting up a sentry watch."

Lola leaned out and touched Rene’s arm. “She knows what she is doing and we will why Bartholomew has gone to check things.” She said gently seeing the look that Cassandra gave him. He had been like that the previous time they had to stay somewhere other night in the pharmacy flat.

René nodded as a sigh escaped. "I know. I'm being impulsive again." He glanced at Cassandra. "What do you need me to do Mademoiselle?"

“Tidying and organising anything we can take back.” Cassandra repeated firmly as Lola disappeared back to her radios to sign off properly for the night. “I know you are used to doing things solo but I know what I am doing.” Cassandra said lowly.

“Front is secure.” Bartholomew declared as he came back up. “I’ll take 04:00 watch if I can get to sleep now just watching this sky.” He declared hopefully as he felt the tension.

Victoria watched as Cassandra gathered papers, records and logbooks. She glanced at Bartholomew as he reported back to Cassandra. She turned her attention to the two youngest members. René seemed to gravitate around Lola in a definitive protective manner. She finally stepped up to Bert. "Mind accompanying me to the bunk room? There are a few electrical space heaters there. We might be able to warm the room up a little before we lose all power."

“If he can’t I will.” Bartholomew offered as he started to pulled out his sleeping back and laid it out to sleep under the open sky. He was more than willing to sleep there for the night. There might be the dead outside but it really was a perfect night for him.

 

RSS Feed