by Maxey, Phil
Cake mixture for a partially made Christmas cake sat on the worktop. It was Christmas eve, and only a few hours earlier Mary, Irene and some of the children were standing in the kitchen getting sugar and dried fruit everywhere, when the sirens broke out and everyone had to be quickly shuffled into the basement.
A cool breeze crossed Mary’s face as she stood amongst the shadows of the kitchen and sunroom. Beyond their large windows was only a rich darkness. The door to the backyard was open and swaying slightly. Keeping her flashlight pointing downwards, she moved into the sunroom and then up to the open door to the yard. It was then she heard the noise. A slow drooling sound, like something was drinking from a straw. She went to call out into the black in the yard in the hope that a human voice would come back, but as she stepped across the threshold into the night, the smell of death hit her. She also trod on something and stumbled backwards against the doorframe. Immediately she pushed the flashlight in the direction of her obstruction and saw the torn body of one of the soldiers. The noise that she still hadn’t got used too, paused and then continued. It seemed to be coming from the back of the yard, but she wasn’t about to point the light in that direction to see what was causing it, unless she had too.
She looked down at the soldier. His blood soaked radio was still with him. Kneeling, she grabbed the radio, and then quickly searched his clothes. A set of keys came from his top pocket. Lucky.
Standing, she turned and carefully retraced her steps back into the kitchen. Once she was in the hall, she ran back to the truck. The driver’s door was already open.
She jumped up into the seat and slid the keys into the ignition.
Irene looked straight ahead. “I take it the soldiers are not joining us.”
Mary fired up the truck’s engine, and pulled the door closed, she then pulled off, driving down the darkened road.
CHAPTER TWO
The sound of far off explosions woke Zach. His eyes flickered open into darkness. The left one quicker than the right, but at least the right was now opening. He reached over the side of the flimsy metal frame of the bed, and pulled his backpack up. Pulling out his radio, he clicked it on to see what the time was. 7 am. An hour before sunrise. He looked out into the dark around him, but couldn’t make much out and returned to staring at the underside of Abbey’s bunk above him. It’s him. The tiny voice which he had managed to suppress on seeing Tinley was getting louder. He had to face the reality of the situation. The man that he suspected of killing his family was in charge of this camp, and will be in charge of where he gets sent next. With all the crazy things that he had learned over the past few weeks, that struck him as the craziest. Fate. They had fought hard to make it across the country for these people, and now what chance did he have to help them? Did Tinley know that Zach knew who he was? This was something Zach wasn’t sure of. Either way, he needed to watch his back and those he cared for. He also needed to get a message to Trow, but that might be out of his hands.
He wasn’t going back to sleep, so he sat up, put his boots on and picked up his radio. He then used the neon orange glow from it to light a path between the beds to the door, and then outside into the hallway which was lit by one dim dust covered light.
He heard voices he recognized and walked to the lobby where he found Fiona and Cal, sitting on two plain chairs.
“I hope you both got at least some sleep,” he said, placing a small plastic cup up to the water dispenser and turning the tap.
“Some,” said Fiona. Cal continued looking at the smooth paneling on the floor.
Zach gave him a disconcerted look then sat down next to Fiona. Flashes and orange streams broke the blackness of the horizon outside the lobby entrance.
“What’s your take on the guy in charge?” said Fiona.
Zach took a sip on his water. “Bass said he held the camp together.”
“Did he say anything about what the breakout plan is?”
“Only that, he’s in charge of it.”
Cal lifted his head a bit. “I thought Trow put you in charge?”
“That’s what she told me, guess Tinley has other ideas. I got a briefing at zero eight hundred hours.”
“Want us along?”
Zach was going to reply when a truck pulled up outside the lobby with a judder. A woman in her late twenties with medium length brown hair, jumped out, running around the back, then lifted the shutter up. She then started to help children onto the ground. Zach, Cal and Fiona stood up, left the lobby and walked to the back of the truck.
“We could do with a hand here,” said Mary.
Zach, Cal and Fiona stepped forward and started helping.
“I’m Zach, this is Fiona and Cal.”
“Mary, and this is Irene.”
Irene appeared sticking close to the side of the truck, and held out her hand. Fiona shook it and went to smile then stopped.
As the group grew, Fiona took them into the lobby, until they were all inside with the five adults.
“Help yourselves to some water, but don’t take too much, share a cup if possible,” said Mary to the children, then turned to Zach. “Are you new here? I’ve not seen any of you before.”
“I’m Captain Felton from Bravo, we are here to help with the evacuation.”
Mary’s expression changed, and she looked down the hallway towards where everyone was sleeping. “Is Morgan here?” Zach looked unsure. “Sorry, I mean Dr. Tanner?”
“Yes, I think she’s sleeping in the hall.”
Mary went to move in that direction, but stopped. “There were two soldiers sent out to help us get here, but unfortunately they didn’t make it. Do you know where we should go? The guard at the gate said just check in at the lobby.”
They all stood looking around them, but the only sounds were from outside.
Zach looked over the kids in front of him, and then to Mary. “There’s plenty of room in the main hall.”
“You heard the man, everyone through the doors and into the hall, and keep quiet! People are sleeping.”
They all filed back into the hall, with the children staying close to the wall. Mary went from bed to bed, shining her light off to the side so as to not wake the sleeper, but at the same time give her enough light to recognize her sister. Eventually, she found the right bed, and gave Dr. Tanner a slight nudge, then a warm embrace. The fuss making the people in the nearby beds wake up, grumble something then turn over.
After a short chat, Morgan put on a second top, picked up her backpack and followed Mary back to the waiting children. She introduced everyone to her sister as she gave each person a quick medical checkup. She then took everyone over to an area with empty beds which most of the kids and their guardians gratefully fell into.
Abbey had woken up by now and walked over to Zach. “New arrivals?”
“That’s Mary, Dr. Tanners, umm Morgan’s sister. She’s been helping to look after some kids.”
“How you sleep?”
“Got some, you?”
“Same.”
“I need to go, I’ve got a briefing in about thirty minutes, and I have no idea where to go. I think their plan is to start the evac today, so keep our group together,” as he finished his words, he addressed Cal, Fiona as well as Abbey.
She gave him a hug. He then went and collected some things and left the hall.
Walking back out into the lobby, the sun was just starting to rise, making the sky beyond the entrance doors a navy blue. The flashes and orange streaks had stopped. A woman, different to the night before was sitting at the counter, busily writing.
Zach looked towards her, while doing up his jacket. “Hi, any idea where the briefing is with Colonel Tinley?” The colonel’s name tasted bitter as he said it.
She looked up. “It’s in headquarters, at our state capital building and it started at 7 am, thirty-five minutes ago, are you one of the new arrivals from the Austin camp?”
“What? I was told to get to a briefing at zero eight hundred hours.”
“If you’re from Austin then you are to remain here, until called for.”
Zach looked to the area outside, there were no guards but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was a prisoner once again. He walked closer to the counter. “Did you know a bunch of kids came in not so long ago? They might need some help.”
“I was informed, there’s food and shelter in the hall.”
Zach could feel frustration building in him and was just about to make his responses angrier when a Humvee pulled up outside. An army officer in his thirties got out, accompanied by a soldier and they walked into the lobby. The officer then walked up to the counter.
“We’re here to talk to a Captain Felton.”
“That would be me.”
“Ah good, Captain. My names Captain Holston,” he then turned to the woman behind the counter. “Is there a room we can talk in private?”
She responded by opening a door to a small office, with a desk and a few chairs. Captain Holston and Zach sat down, Holston sitting behind the desk.
“First, Colonel Tinley wants to congratulate you on achieving your mission with getting Dr. Joshi from Austin to here.”
Zach looked confused. “The mission was to get my group here, to help with the evacuation. Dr. Joshi wasn’t asked here, he came because he thought he could help.”
“Regardless of the circumstances, the Colonel feels Dr. Joshi will be a great asset with the evacuation.”
As Holston was talking, Zach started to realize that he had not seen Raj since they arrived in the hall, Holston continued. “The Colonel understands that you were under the misguided impression that you were to command the evacuation? We never received any such order from General Trow.” The last part he said with a smirk.
“Well, all it will take is a quick communication to Bravo to sort that out.”
“Unfortunately communication to the Austin camp is down, and anyway there’s no time. The evacuation will take place today. Very soon in fact,” Zach went to say something, but Holston continued. “And you are to command the evacuation of the people here. They are mostly women and children, and some other less fortunate people.”
“Less fortunate?”
“The injured, some people with pre-existing conditions.”
“Okay, and how many soldiers do I get to help with that?”
“Unfortunately we can’t spare any. I understand you arrived with about ten soldiers? That should be more than enough, with someone as experienced as you Captain.”
Even though the words were coming out of Holston’s mouth, he knew they were Tinley’s. “And vehicles?” said Zach knowing what the answer was likely to be.
“Again…”
This time it was Zach that interrupted. “Yeah, I get it, just the vehicles we came with.”
Holston stood up and held out his hand, then started to say something. Zach ignored him and left the office, returning back to the hall.
Cal, Fiona, Bass, Rob and Abbey were sitting in a circle, eating. The early morning sun was beginning to shine through the high windows, and people were sitting up on in their bunks. Zach walked over to his friends, grabbing an apple from a long table and sat down with them.
“Merry Christmas,” said Rob chewing some bread.
Zach wasn’t sure what Rob was saying at first, he had completely lost track of time over the past week. “Happy Christmas everyone.”
Unenthusiastic responses came back from those around him.
“Look around at the people in this hall.” Everyone slowly looked around as suggested. “It’s our job to get them safely back to Bravo.”
Everyone looked surprised. “I thought you were in command of the whole evacuation? Wasn’t that the point of us coming up here?” said Bass.
“That’s what I was told by General Trow, but Tinley has other ideas.”
“Fucker,” said Fiona under her breath.
Bass shook his head and looked down, then began talking before lifting it. “We lost twenty soldiers trying to get up here, and he’s just going to shut us out?”
“He wants to take all the credit for getting the people of this camp back to Bravo, look like the hero. He’s also happy he’s now got Raj,” replied Zach.
“I wondered what happened to Dr. Joshi,” said Abbey.
“What extra troops and equipment, we getting?” said Bass.
“None.”
Fiona swore again.
“Does Trow know about any of this?” said Jacob joining them with Jack’s sleepily walking to the food table behind him.
“I’m guessing, not,” Zach replied.
As the gloom began to lift from the hall, the true state of the people inside it could be seen. Zach and the others in the small circle looked at the wretched and infirm laid out around them and each one felt most of these people wouldn’t live to see Camp Bravo.
Zach continued. “Bass and Fiona, I’m going to need both of you to get back to our vehicles and check on the supplies we have. Rob, find Greggs, and go with her to see how the truck and bus are holding up.” He then looked at the people in the hall. “Abbey, and Jacob, find Mary and Morgan, we need to know what’s the medical status of everyone here, what kind of help they are going to need, and get everyone ready to move out. Cal, you and I are going to find out what’s the best way out of this place.”
Zach sensed everyone was reluctant to move. “I know we have just got here, barely having any sleep last night, but I don’t want to be in the middle of this shit storm any longer than we have too.”
“We going out the same way we came in?” said Rob.
“Not if we can help it,” replied Zach.
Bass got to his feet, followed by Fiona and then everyone else got up and set about their task.
CHAPTER THREE
Abbey sat holding the hand of a dying man. His name was Jed, and had told her how he got ill some months back but the medical supplies weren’t there to stop his condition from deteriorating. Morgan whispered into her ear a few minutes earlier that she thought he only had a few more days to live. Jed was talking to her, but none of his words were breaking through the barriers in her mind. This made her feel guilty, the least Jed deserved was someone to hear his last thoughts and words, but she couldn’t do it, she just didn’t want to know.
“Don’t mind Jed, he can talk the legs off a horse.” A well-built man in his early thirties with short blond hair lay in a bed opposite her.
Abbey looked up lost in her own thoughts, and not even really being sure what she was just asked. “Sorry?” Jed had fallen asleep, at least she hoped that’s what had happened.
“Jed? The guy that’s been talking to you for the past twenty minutes.”
She smiled.
“You’re new here? I heard that you’re from the other camp?”
“We got here last night.”
The blond haired man swung his body around, so he was sitting off the side of the bed. One of his legs ended just below the knee. “My names, Sam, Sam Coleman.”
“Abbey,” she tried not to look at his missing appendage.
He smiled. “Don’t worry about trying not to look at what’s not there anymore.”
“The E.L.F’s?”
“Afghanistan.”
Abbey wasn’t sure what to say next.
“What’s the other camp like? I hear it’s doing okay.”
“They seem to be managing.”
“They?”
“We hadn’t been there long… Must have been a nightmare being here?”
“It started bad and went downhill from there,” he smiled again but this time his eyes betrayed it.
“The one legged player strikes again,” a large man with very short-cropped dark-brown hair, and a missing hand yelled from a bed behind Sam’s.
“Can’t a guy have a conversation with a girl?” said Sam, throwing an empty water bottle at the large guy.
Abbey smiled, her mind momentarily free of the weight of the last few days.
&nb
sp; “Name’s Isaiah, and the bunch of misfits you see around me are mostly veterans from one conflict or another,” said the large guy.
Abbey spotted Zach and Cal had returned. “Nice to meet you,” she then walked over to Zach who was now with the others.
“We’ve found out there’s a gate that’s hardly used on the north east wall, means we might need to go through some hostile territory just to get to it, but it’s better than going through the south gate.”
“Especially now we don’t have Raj’s secret weapon,” said Rob “we are pretty good with supplies, even with everyone here in the hall, but those sonic weapons Raj created have all gone from the bus.”
“I still got mine,” said Abbey, I couldn’t find it in the moment, but I looked this morning and it was inside a rolled up magazine in the bottom of my pack.
Zach leaned in slightly. “If anyone asks if we have one of Raj’s devices we say we don’t, agreed?” everyone nodded.
Morgan was standing against the wall with Mary and Irene, when Zach beckoned her over to the group.
“What’s everyone’s status?” said Zach.
“Well, we have forty-six people in this hall, including twelve children and eight people over the age of sixty-five.”
“Are they all ready to travel?”
“That depends.”
“On?”
“Only how many you want to be alive within twenty-four hours of leaving. Three are in a critical condition and probably won’t live beyond the next few days, eleven have serious conditions, but if we can find the right medication should make it to Austin, and there’s everyone else.”
Zach gave her a questioning look.
“Nearly everyone here has some kind of disability, or issue.”
“I met the vet’s,” said Abbey.
Morgan smiled. “Actually they are what I would regard as the more capable of people here, apart from the few that have PTSD.”
“Vet’s?” questioned Zach, while looking at Bass who gave him a knowing look back. Bass then left and walked over to Sam who was talking with Isaiah.
