by Matt J. Pike
*
Straight after the meeting Steph, who had volunteered for the gig, went down to be the early eyes on location. She found a spot inside Government House grounds, which backed right on to the meeting spot at the war memorial. There were plenty of dead trees and piled up ash to keep her obscured. She had a two-way with her. Not long after Craig headed down to set himself up in a line-of-sight position over the meeting point. He went the long way over Morphett St bridge, then up Hindley St to the mall to avoid prying eyes as best he could.
It was decided Brian and Shane would travel with a small support team – Nick and Joyce. That in itself was a risk, given they would probably face many more on the other side, be we really had no choice if we wanted to cover all bases. That meant only six of us committed to the truce negotiations. Ye-jun, Kelly and I were going to hide out in no-man’s land beyond the new King William Rd wall. We’d spread out and lay in wait for any surprise attack, where we had a little surprise in store for anyone daring to cross us (Jonesy’s idea). Lana was based at the oval to coordinate all comms. The others helped Jonesy set up the trap then fanned themselves out along the eastern stand, as well as the lookout in the riverbank stand – all armed and ready.
At least they had plenty to keep them busy for the hours of waiting. It was lonely work for Ye-jun, Kelly and I (as with Steph and Craig). The three of us split up to cover as much ground as possible. I found a spot near the river that overlooked the wall where the spy had crossed, Kelly was in hiding up closer to the Cathedral, while Ye-jun took point at the remains of the small grandstand on the university oval. That was a good hundred or so metres further into no-man’s land and right on the edge of anything we could use for cover, but gave him views right the way through to Frome Rd and anyone moving on us at all. We had a pretty good zone defence going. I was pretty sure no one would slip through unnoticed.
We all had our red headbands on, should things get crazy. I found myself repeatedly adjusting mine as I lay in wait – probably just nerves or the lack of anything else to do except wait. And that’s where I sat. For hours. Occasionally the two-way would static into life with an updated all clear from Ye-jun, or similar from Lana.
It was only as my watch neared 4pm that I started to think we would be in the clear. And the moment those thoughts entered my head was the moment everything changed. Ye-jun whispered into the two-way that he spotted Norwood hubbers spilling out from Frome St into the parklands at the other end of the uni ovals. First headcount was 10, but he messaged back a few seconds later with 20, then with continuing updates until it reached 46. They had split into two groups, one heading directly towards the oval, the other heading further north, presumably to attack from the cathedral, or even further around to come in behind our wall at Jeffcott St.
A few seconds later Ye-jun signed off from comms to hide while the approaching force went past.
I knew I would be doing the same in another minute or two, but touched base with Kelly to make sure she was OK and to go over the plan again, then chased Lana up and made sure Nick and Joyce (Shane and Brian’s support crew) knew exactly what was happening and what that meant. At least I tried to… there was no response at that end.
Then I heard the shots – two, followed by another two and a louder one rattled out several rounds. They were distant but echoed around the city and out over the parklands. There was a short pause, then a whole lot more firing started up. I asked what was happening into the two-way, but just as I did, the first of the Norwood crew came into view. I turned the radio off, controlled my breathing as best I could, and tried to focus on remembering the plan and keeping my head in the game.
I later found out those shots were everything going pear-shaped at the truce negotiations. Shane and Brian met the fat man and one other guy at the war memorial. They walked the last 100m on their own, with Nick and Joyce in support, Steph watching from close by at Government House and Craig on a nearby rooftop looking through his scope. In the distance behind fatty and friend stood at least 30 more Norwood crew.
When Shane and Brian stood face to face with fat man and friend, they were frisked. Once complete they returned the favour – Shane did it, although clearly not well, judging by what happened next. They were chatting for a couple of minutes, just general pleasantries, with fat man complimenting what we had built with limited resources. Then fats asked what we proposed in terms of a truce. Brian told him the concept of separating the city east and west, using King William St as a border. He talked about the potential to open up future communications and potentially trade between the two groups… it was all pitched quite positively and Brian spoke like a man in control of the situation… according to Shane’s account.
Then fatty asked if he could propose his own truce negotiations. As Brian agreed, fats pulled out a small pistol from under his sleeve, shot Brian twice in the chest, then turned the gun towards Shane. He didn’t say a thing – just shot.
Craig fired at the fat man from the rooftop, hitting him in the hip and leg. Fatty let fire on Shane as he fell, but missed. Craig sent another two rounds at the second guy, and killed him on impact. Soon it was only Shane standing of the four. There was a roar as the Norwood crew charged forward for Shane and the others. Bullets start firing all around him.
Nick and Joyce drew their weapons and urged Shane to duck and run towards them. I doubt he would’ve made it that far across open street. It was lucky Steph got his attention from Government House. Shane made a dash for her. Meanwhile, Craig turned his scope towards the advancing pack and fired into them – shot after shot.
Shane had taken a hit to the upper arm and another to the top of his ear by the time he reached Steph. She helped him fight through the pain to climb the fence, then radioed in the update. At that point, Nick and Joyce turned for home – they didn’t have far to move to get around the corner on King William Rd. Craig kept his position, firing at the advancing pack. Well, at least until Nick and Joyce were safely around the corner – we never saw him alive again.
By that time, with the distant gun fire starting to slow down again, I was laying as still as my body would let me behind a mound of ash as at least a dozen Norwood hubbers – all armed – moved past me. They advanced towards the wall, all fanned out, about 10m apart from each other. I had no idea what had happened anywhere else, other than knowing it must’ve been total chaos. I just preyed that Jonesy was ready when they climbed the wall. When I felt they were far enough past me, I got my rifle ready. I remember talking to Fi, not sure what I said exactly, I just knew she was who I wanted to be with at that moment. Actually, I do remember the general gist of my words. I promised to do everything I could to stay alive – not for me, but for her and her memory… and for my parents. In fact, me staying alive meant the memories of so many others did too. I was probably their last connection to the real world – the last echo of their existence. I’m sure it didn’t sound so deep when I said it at the time, but something like that.
They were at the wall within no time. I just remember that feeling going through me. I was full of adrenalin, anticipating… I’m not sure what exactly – anything. I just knew that the distant gun fire and chaos I heard before would be all around me at any moment. I knew each and every move I made could be the difference between being alive tonight or not – or winning this thing or not. It was just so all-encompassing… yet I was still just lying in wait – the calm before the storm.
Once the advancing force was past me and at the base of the wall, someone blew a whistle and they all started climbing. The wall did its job. It was never going to stop someone getting past, but it made it physically demanding, dirty and disgusting work as the ash moved under each step or hand placement.
I could start to smell the petrol at that point. Jonesy had all but done his job. Surely, they must’ve been able to smell it too as they climbed. Who knows, maybe being nose deep in a wall full of ash screws with your senses a bit. Maybe they were just too spread out to communicate and they were
just sticking with the plan they had set in place. Who knows. What I did know was, it was about to cost them dearly.
Once each person reached the top of the wall, just short of popping their head into a shootable position, they’d wait for the rest to catch up. I stayed low and watched from the shadows, waiting for my moment. There was another burst of distant gun fire; it didn’t rattle me as much as the first. I was too focused on what lay ahead for me.
That distant fire turned out to be Nick’s last moments. He and Joyce were making the dash across the ash from King William Rd to the wall. Joyce was way older than Nick, but he wasn’t keeping up. She stayed with him though, even knowing they only had moments until the chasing Norwood crew would reach the corner behind them and they’d be in line of sight. Then he stumbled on something under the surface ash and fell. She went to pull him up and that’s when she saw the state of his leg – he’d been shot. She went to pull him to his feet, but between the wound and whatever damage he did in the fall, he wasn’t going anywhere.
With Joyce’s help, he dragged himself behind a mound of ash cover by the side of the road and raised his gun back up the street where they’d come from. Then he told Joyce to go. She tried to think of an alternative to get Nick home, but he was having none of it, he just screamed at her to leave, while she still could. As she turned for the oval, the Norwood crew rounded the corner. They spread out and opened fire on her. That was until Nick tagged a couple of them and they rest scurried for cover from a threat they couldn’t see.
So, with the steady popping of gunfire echoing around me, I watched the Norwood hubbers go over the top of the wall as one. Then I waited. A few seconds ticked by with no additional gunfire – no anything really. I turned my two-way back on, but no one was talking. Then came the churning, rolling rage that was almost the entire remains of our fuel stock igniting into flame. It was truly frightening. I could hear it work its way toward me on the other side of the wall, then up the street to the north. Then the flame and smoke burst into my sight over the wall. The heat hit my face hard, just as I began to hear the screams. Then gunfire, closer than before, rattled out everywhere. Occasionally a tree near me would pop from a stray bullet.
I felt numb to it all, the horribleness that was happening just beyond that raised mound of ash, glowing with flame. I raised my gun to the wall and panned left and right – slowly and surely again and again. The only thought I remembered having at that moment was hoping the horror would remain out of my sight. That I wouldn’t have to see a burning and/or shot survivor, make their way back to the top of the wall, where I would have to finish them off. It was a selfish thought really, in reflection. This was my fight as much as anyone’s – more so perhaps – and I knew I’d have to do my fair share of traumatic heavy lifting before the day was out.
Ye-jun chimed in on the two-way to say the coast was clear to the east and he was heading back to my position. I replied with a ‘roger’ and returned to the task of training my weapon up and down the wall.
The flame started to die back pretty quickly from there, but it was replaced by a thick dark smoke that made the oval grandstands almost disappear from view. Back and forth with the gun on the wall – still no one. I could hear Ye-jun talking to Jonesy on the two-way, well, more like Jonesy barking a one-way conversation. By the sounds of it, he was in some crazy bubble of madness, could barely see from the smoke, was struggling to get comms with the lookouts and was just shooting at anything that moved between the stadium and the wall.
Then I saw a blackened hand rise above the wall before pushing down into its surface. I looked through the scope as the clearly injured and in pain man (I think) wrestled and moaned his way to get his body on the ridge. He made this huffing, wheezing noise as he used his leg and good hand to mount the summit and then just flopped down the other side towards me. His clothes were charred, burnt off in places, and the skin down his right side was either burned or melted from his body. He lay in the heap gravity had left him in after his slide down the wall. There was no weapon to be seen.
I wiped the cocktail of sweat, ash and fire remnants from my forehead, then targeted the burnt man down the scope again. I just froze in that position – even when a second person started climbing the wall. I knew it, I could hear it, but I was trapped in my moment with the dying man a few metres ahead of me. I knew what I had to do, but it was one thing to kill someone when your life depended on it – this was another thing altogether.
The sound he made changed, his head convulsed with each breath as if the oxygen was getting stuck in his throat. It was like a fish out of water taking his final, futile breaths.
I could hear the other guy coming down the wall, but it wasn’t enough to break my focus. No, focus is the wrong word, I think I was stuck in a loop, hoping he’d die before I’d have to do anything about it. Everything else – gunfire, bullets hitting the trees behind me, the stink of acrid smoke, the screams, the other guy on the wall – that was all just rolled up into one peripheral swirl around me and the dying guy.
I lowered the gun then lifted it again, having told myself that if he hadn’t died in that time, I’d definitely finish him when I aimed again.
I didn’t.
Then I heard someone scream, “Look out!”
It was Ye-jun. I turned to see him fire his weapon, then turned back to see the other man on the wall fall to a lifeless heap as the gun he had pointed at me slipped from his hand. It still took a few seconds for me to process it all. Ye-jun had reached me by that stage, asked me if I was alright, then put two bullets into the fish breather before I had a chance to respond.
Ye-jun approached the bodies, kicked away the gun, then turned and repeated his question. I nodded, I think.
“I’m going to head up to Kelly’s location, you gonna be alright here?”
As I answered, I started to feel myself come back into the moment. I knew I had to shake off whatever it was that had taken over me. I shot the lifeless corpse of the fish breather, then tried to think of something productive to do – something new to focus on.
There was no one else climbing the wall and the smoke was starting to clear. I called for Lana on the two-way.
“We did it!” she said. “They’re all dead. Jonesy and his team are doing a sweep of the area, but I think they’re gone. There’s another group heading down King William Rd but we’ve got them pinned down from the lookouts. What’s happening out there?”
“Ye-jun’s just gone to check on Kelly – the two of us are good.”
“Brilliant. Let me know when you have, we’ll make sure the coast is clear so you can climb the wall back in here.”
“Roger.”
That’s when I lost it. I just dropped the radio, slumped back in the ash and cried. I don’t know what about particularly, but I think I could come up with a dozen good reasons. Soon Ye-jun and Kelly were on top of me. They sat either side of me and we leaned in and cuddled each other.
“We did it!” said Ye-jun.
We embraced closer than before. I was still crying. After a minute I picked up the two-way and spoke to Lana. “Kelly accounted for and well, we’re ready to cross back in.”
The first thing I poked over the ridge was my red headband. “It’s us, we’re heading in.”
“Clear,” said Jonesy. “Come on home.”
What greeted us on the other side of the wall was a scene of many conflicts – the charred and broken corpses laying at the feet of our celebrating comrades. The stink of burnt fuel mixed with the disturbingly pleasant aroma of cooked flesh. The thoughts of those we’d lost, while staring at the pain we’d inflicted on our enemies. The smiles we shared, hiding the horror we knew we’d have to deal with for some time. It was tricky territory to know what to focus your thoughts on. I know the others were feeling it too, it was like this collective unspoken decision had been made to think only on the positives and put the blinkers up to anything else, otherwise it would break us. Game faces.
Not only that,
I was dealing with my utter failure to step up when required. I had frozen. It could’ve gotten me killed… it could’ve gotten others killed. I already hated myself for it. I already knew that when I remembered back to this day, when enough time gone by that we could reflect on our mighty victory against the odds, that when everyone would be sharing stories of bravery, I knew I would always remember that moment. It may never be spoken about, it may just be something only Ye-jun and myself know about, but no amount of time or exaggeration on our fighting fates, would ever let me forget it.
Lana and those in the towers soon joined us, with the news that the other group were now retreating. Someone made contact with Shane and Steph. They were alive and heading home – although Shane would need some medical attention on his arm. I floated from person to person, offering hugs or high fives, depending on who it was. I did allow myself a little smile at this point. Fail or not on the battlefield, it was me who thought to come to the city, it was me that teamed up with Shane and started this place, me who thought to connect with the watched when the Norwood presence loomed, me who smelled a rat in the truce talks plans… no… still doesn’t make up for it.
Then Jonesy made a beeline for me. “I’ve still got a decent amount of petrol left.”
I said something about the generators and he told me he wasn’t talking about the generators. There was a look between us, we both knew in an instant what we should do. I ran as fast as the surface would allow me, heading for Phoenix.
I was soon back to Jonesy, who was standing away from the others with a jerry can.
“Let’s finish this,” he said as he jumped in next to me.
While we headed off we were doing the sums. We figured it’d normally be a 20 minute walk for them to return to the hospital in today’s conditions, but surely they’d have some wounded, which would slow them down. We had given them a five-minute head start and had to double back up to Jeffcott Tce to go around the wall.
