by Leo Nix
The pain in her shoulder almost made her pass out so she sat down and crawled over and leaned behind a cash register to rest. That was when she heard sounds, voices, female and male, punctuated by sobs of terror and sadistic laughter.
She shuddered in pain and fear as she hunched down as far as she could into the cubicle, trying to be as quiet as possible. The voices started again and she recognised the three who shot her. Her breathing was so rapid she feared they would hear her. Peering through a gap she saw her assailants and began to shake uncontrollably.
“Get over there, all of you. You too. No, stand there. You, stand still, no one is going to hurt you.” His voice was pleasantly smooth but authoritative. “We've chosen to send you all to paradise, to cater for our Crusader heroes waiting there for you. They have greater need of your services than we do here.” She heard a stifled cry and a slap, then more crying broke out. Tears coursed down her cheeks remembering how that same cruel voice had spoken so reassuringly to her.
“Get on with it Jabba, we have to get back. Just friggin' do it.” That voice was Larry, she recognised how his voice cracked and went up an octave when he got excited.
“No, let them suffer, we don't owe them nothing!” That was Emma. “On second thoughts, my arm's getting tired holding this damn rifle. Come on Jabba, give the order and let's just do it so we can go get some food, I'm starved.”
There was a voice calling from outside the mall telling them to hurry up. Jabba spoke hurriedly, “OK everyone, I'm sorry that I can't formally send you on your way with a prayer, but if you could just close your eyes, this won't hurt a bit.”
There were bursts of automatic gunfire, louder than Charlene could remember, fortunately it was over in seconds.
“Fuck it!” came Larry's livid voice. “This fucking gun keeps fucking jamming!” he yelled again, his voice breaking and jumping up several octaves. “I'm telling you, when we get back to camp I'm gonna get a new one! This is just a piece of shit!”
Charlene could hear him screaming and their voices receded as they left the mall.
`They might come back,' she thought to herself.
Her body was shaking again but she forced herself to look at the victims. `There may be survivors and they'll need my help,' she whispered to herself unconsciously.
There was a row of bloodied still forms on the floor beside the wall. They were tumbled together, like puppets left for kids to play with in the morning. One squirmed and cried out. Charlene didn't know what to do, she froze. Her natural instinct was to run over and help but she was deeply afraid that it was a trap, and she'd be shot again. The bloodied young lady was stuck in a no-man's-land of indecision.
Her morality won the battle. Leaving her basket of groceries, she staggered as quickly as she could to the struggling girl on the floor.
“Are you OK?” she asked sitting down beside her in the spreading puddle of blood. She took the girls hand in her good right one. A frightened face looked up at her.
The young woman's eyes were wide with wonder as though reborn. Seeing the blond haired beauty above her she was confused. “Are you an angel? Am I in heaven?” said a voice so soft that it perfectly matched her fine-boned face.
The teenager held tightly to Charlene's hand as she sat up, she didn't let go. “I thought I was dead,” she said simply, “why am I alive?” The girl seemed to come out of a trance as she shook her head then checked herself all over.
It was then she noticed the bodies. The teenager stopped all movement and stared around, some were her friends, they were lying dead beside her. Something snapped inside, she shuddered and began to scream.
“Zombies! Argh! Zombies!” She tried to scramble to her feet in panic. It escalated into a full-blown panic attack and she started hyperventilating. Her feet failed to grip in the pools of blood beneath her and the teenager slipped and fell on top of Charlene, causing her rescuer to scream in pain. That caused the young lady to take stock of where she was and her surroundings. Closing her eyes she calmed her breathing and came back to reality. Once settled she carefully examined herself for bullet wounds.
There was blood on her clothes but when she ran her hands over her body she felt no pain or sign of injury. All of a sudden the flood gates opened and she began to cry. Regardless of her own pain Charlene drew the teenager to her breast and they clung to each other on the floor amid the bodies and the blood. Charlene felt something rise inside her, an excruciating warmth and affection for this gorgeous girl - it frightened her as much as it thrilled her.
After what seemed an eternity the teenager pulled herself away and looked at her rescuer. She did a double take when she saw how badly wounded Charlene was.
“Oh, I'm so sorry, I need to get you to a doctor… or something. You're a mess,” said the young lady slipping easily into action mode. “Stay still, I'll get some things together and come back here. Please, don't move.” With that she scampered off running down the aisles gathering bandages and medicines adding to what Charlene already had.
When she returned the girl said, “I'm taking you to my house. They've already searched there and it should be safe. Come on, I'll support you. I promise I'll look after you.” As small as she appeared she was incredibly strong and together they fled the carnage of the mall.
“I'm so sorry, my name's Heidi, what's yours?” That was how they started their special friendship, struggling across the main road in the early hours of the morning.
The two young women made it across the main road and into one of the side streets. There was a half moon and enough light for them to walk by. They had to stop many times for Heidi to swap the grocery bag to her other shoulder and to allow Charlene to rest. It was slow but after a half hour she announced that her house was the next one. Charlene was dizzy and feverish, she couldn't have cared less, she was nearing collapse.
Without warning a truck engine roared, it was heading straight towards them. Heidi carefully eased Charlene onto the nearest front lawn and behind a screen of shrubs just as a truck of civilians and their guards raced past. They lay still and quiet together on the grass. Heidi held Charlene in her arms protectively, like a big sister.
“That was close. Here grab my hand and I'll help you inside. That's my house just there,” said Heidi as she now held out her hand to her new-found friend.
Heidi helped the staggering Charlene into her house. Exhausted, Charlene fell on the bed and was soon asleep. With practiced ease Heidi quickly pulled the blinds closed and draped spare blankets over the windows. She then came back to strip Charlene of her bloodied clothing.
By the light of several candles she cleaned and bandaged her wounds. Charlene moaned and tried to fight her off in her fevered state but she was weaker than a kitten. Heidi had the job done and was preparing food and medicines within an hour of their arrival.
The days went by in a haze of fever for Charlene. All she could recall afterward was the throbbing pain and the sweet taste of water dripped into her mouth. Sometimes she tasted soup followed by tablets and more water. Many times she woke herself up by the sound of her own screaming. Nightmares appeared too real and she lost all sense of time and reality. She was no longer Charlene, just a floating ball of pain and fever.
The weather was getting hotter and with her fevered mind the nightmares never seemed to stop. She relived each bullet striking her shoulder spinning her around and around. Sometimes she felt herself floating on the ceiling observing herself lying on the bed. At other times she relived memories of her childhood.
Then there were the waking nightmares when she saw dead bodies with Jabba, Larry and Emma in the room with her. Charlene could clearly see their leering faces as they fired their bullets into her weakened body.
Each day Heidi fussed over her, talking and chatting away trying to keep her spirits up. It helped to keep her own spirits up as well. Heidi was afraid that Charlene would die and leave her alone - that was her nightmare, to be alone among the terrorists. To be tied up and forced to lick t
he vomit and urine off the floor of the prison cell, was her other nightmare.
Heidi remembered that there was a time when she hadn't a care in the world. All she had to do was go to college and play hockey, that was a happy, carefree life. It was all gone now, never to return.
One morning she noticed Charlene open her eyes but there was something different to them. Her eyes stayed fixed on hers and didn't float away like they had over the past six days.
“Who are you? Where am I?” Charlene asked but having exhausted her energy in those few words, she sank back into the bed and fell asleep.
The next time she woke Heidi was there waiting. “Hi, I'm Heidi and I brought you here from the supermarket,” she explained slowly. “You were very badly shot up by terrorists and now you're recovering. We need to be very careful and very quiet because they could come back any time.” Heidi stood up and continued, “I'm going to leave you for a few minutes while I make you a cup of special herbal tea, and I want you to drink it, OK?”
Heidi held the cup to her friend's cracked, dry lips . Charlene drank it down until it was all gone. She then closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. This time she actually slept the best part of the day without waking in a hot sweat or screaming from her nightmares.
Her young rescuer breathed a sigh of relief. “I think you might live my dear friend, Charlene,” she said softly.
It wasn't long before Charlene could walk to the toilet unaided and even sit outside for a while under the back porch. Heidi explained that whatever the terrorists put in the city water might still be there and they had to be careful. The bucket beside the toilet had the city water in it and was only to be used to flush with. There was rain water in assorted bottles and bottled water from the shops, that was all she was allowed to drink.
In the heat of late spring Charlene drank a lot of water and ate soft foods, mostly soups and stews made from tinned beef and vegetables. The fruit trees were covered in blossoms and small immature fruits, they wouldn't be ripe to pick for another few months.
Every few nights Heidi crept to the supermarket and gathered bags of dried fruits, nuts and vegetables of all descriptions and brought them back home. Sometimes she made two and three trips each night to build up a store of supplies for later on. Charlene told her she was amazed at what Heidi had done in such horrible circumstances. Even down to the candles and buckets of water for the toilet.
Every morning Heidi was up before dawn straightening the house to disguise it to look unlived in. She cleared everything to look as untouched as it had been before she'd returned with Charlene. She explained that if the terrorists came again, they would hide under the house and wait until they'd gone. To that effect Heidi had cut a trap door in the corner of the spare bedroom, it led to a hideout under the floor containing water, food and bedding. There she put some torches and a bucket to use as a toilet if needed. All she had to do was drag the spare wire-framed bed over the trap door and that would hide them.
Heidi even had two packed bags with water, dried fruits and nuts ready for an emergency escape. There were two other grab bags secreted under the house and two hidden in the garage. `This is one well-prepared girl,' thought Charlene, `and I am so lucky to have found her.'
It was mid morning when they heard noises in the street and then the sound of gunfire. Several voices called out followed by the sound of someone slamming their front door closed. They had no time to move as the sound of speeding footsteps meant someone was racing into their kitchen. The two young women stood paralysed in fear.
Heidi had already finished her pre-dawn clean-up but neither of the girls were ready for the tall youth crashing into their kitchen panting for breath. He looked at them in disbelief. They stared back in shock.
The boy could barely speak, but after some moments he panted, “Help me, Heidi, the soldiers… they're chasing me and my mates… we spread out but I reckon they'll… search house by house… until they find and kill us… help me hide, please.” He was shaking as he desperately attempted to get the girls to understand the danger. Almost as an afterthought he added, “We all need to hide or get out of here… they'll be onto us in a minute. I think they saw which house I ran in to.”
Heidi's mind clicked into action and she reacted immediately. “Arthur, go with Charlene into the spare room and both of you get into the hideout. Now! I'll follow as soon as I tidy up here and disguise things.”
Charlene took the youth by the hand and led him into the back room and then pointed. “Quick, down you go. I'll follow but be careful of my shoulder, it's sore.”
They'd just pulled the trap door up when they heard the front door being bashed open. The two looked into each others faces in fear. “Pull the bed over the top of us, hurry, then close the trap door. It's too late for Heidi, I'm sure she'll do something.”
Heidi heard the crash of the door and knew immediately that she wouldn't make it to the hideout in time. She ducked into the pantry, softly closed the doors behind her, and waited. There was the sound of objects smashing and shouts, but then her heart froze.
“Hey, take a look at this, guys,” called a voice from somewhere in the house. “Someone's living here. See this, in the toilet, a candle and a bucket of water.” There were other voices and more movement, the sounds of beds being upended and cupboards opened. Heidi had no choice but to move now or be caught. She was under no illusion, being caught meant rape and execution. Having survived one and escaped the other, there was no way on God's earth she would ever let it happen again.
She peered through the slit of the cupboard door, saw it was momentarily clear and walked softly into the kitchen. The sounds were coming from the bedrooms down the hallway, so she sneaked to the back door. Heidi opened the door with haste, but was careful not to make a noise. She then raced into the garden fearful someone had seen her. She panicked, what should she do next?
An excited female voice from inside the house interrupting her thoughts, “Hey! Over here, guys! Woot! I think we've found a rat's nest. Anyone got a grenade?”
Heidi was both grateful that the terrorists were still in the house, but horrified they'd found the hideout and her friends. She knew that there was no protecting Charlene and the runaway now. Racing behind the garage she climbed over the back fence and leaped into the yard of the house behind her. Then she kept running and hid in the bushes, hoping the terrorists wouldn't bother looking beyond her house.
Funny, she thought to herself, she had just been thinking about setting up a safe house in the next few streets, but hadn't quite got around to it. She sure wished she had now.
An explosion shook her to the core. It was followed by gunfire and laughter.
“Oh no,” she cried, “they've found Charlene.” She shook all over then broke into a deep, body wracking sob. `I've just lost my best friend, what will I do?' thought the small boned teen, and she cried into her hands as the terrorist's rifle-fire and laughter continued.
Chapter 4 - Charlene - Arthur
By the time the terrorists found their hideout Charlene had led the frightened youth under the house to the side exit. He carried both escape packs as she led him along the escape route to the back of the garage. It was obvious that Heidi's plan stopped there, because there was no way Charlene could climb the fence in her state. Even though she had regained a lot of her strength, the shattered bones in her shoulder had yet to fully heal and any movement still caused excruciating pain.
The boy looked at her, then at the fence and shrugged. He stepped forward and kicked at the rotten wooden palings. `Why didn't I think of that?' Charlene asked herself as she crouched down to ease herself through the gap in the fence.
It was only then that the young man noticed that the pretty, straw-haired girl had limited movement in her torso, and her left arm was in a sling.
“My name's Arthur,” whispered the youth as he held her good hand and guided her towards the front of the house behind Heidi's. “Thanks for helping me to…”
He was st
opped suddenly by an explosion that shook them both to silence. Pieces of glass and timber flew through the air. There was gunfire and laughter. They both froze in fear thinking they were the terrorists targets.
Arthur glanced around frantically for an escape route. He spied a small, female figure squatting in front of them in the shadows, and tugged at Charlene's jacket.
“Be quiet,” whispered the figure, “say nothing, follow me and do exactly what I do.” With a sigh of relief they saw it was Heidi, she was back in command doing exactly what she did best, using her smarts.
Heidi signalled for them to wait quietly among the bushes while she reconnoitred the street. Giving the all-clear she ran across the road to the house opposite. Arthur and Charlene followed. She did this until they were three blocks away in a neighbourhood she knew well.
“That's my best friend's house, she's dead now and so are her parents, all of them. I saw them executed.” she said matter-of-factly. “We'll move in until I work out what to do next.” Heidi led them to the back of the house and in through the back door.
It was spooky being in someone else's house without anyone home, without being invited. Charlene felt like a burglar, it was an alien feeling. Heidi went straight to the blinds and curtains to close them. Secrecy and security were top priority and she had a knack for it.
The kitchen still had saucepans in the sink and bowls of porridge were sitting on the table. The three stopped moving and looked around the kitchen. All of them shifted uncomfortably feeling like intruders at this ghostly family breakfast.
“We should be safe here.” Heidi spoke softly breaking the spell. “Just be quiet and keep the escape packs ready. If we were followed be prepared to leave through the back door, and we'll do the same thing we just did - run. If we ever get separated again, we'll meet three streets away, in the same direction, and the same house number. Got it?” The two nodded silently though still quite fearful of the spooky house.
