Urban Guerrilla

by Leo Nix

  That second evening they made good time, finally reaching the outskirts of the university campus by early morning. Arthur broke into the nearby safe house. It was the worst house in the street of beautifully presented homes. At least they would have been beautiful if their owners were still alive to lovingly tend their gardens.

  To Heidi this was like going on a camping trip. She excelled in all aspects of survival these days and had the food warmed in a pan, and spoons in everyone's hands within minutes of Arthur lighting the fire. Closely observing Charlene, she saw how her friend suffered from sitting in the trailer for so long. She decided they wouldn't move into the university for another twenty four hours, giving them all time to recover. In the meantime she would send Arthur to reconnoitre inside the university itself.

  Arthur pulled out the maps and he struggled through their plans again, but he had trouble remembering things. Heidi made a point of painstakingly going through everything with him until she was sure he understood.

  “It's OK Arty, do it later, get some sleep, your eyes are about to fall out of your head. Sleep now, study later.” They wrapped themselves in blankets and the three fell asleep, curled up together as their fire burned down to ash.

  When Arthur arrived back from his recon trip that night he was very quiet. He looked at Charlene and waited for her to say something.

  “And?” asked Charlene impatiently. “Come on, what did you find, tell me?”

  “It's been burned. I guess the terrorists don't like books. There are piles of burned books and some of the buildings are burned too.” He then looked up, his eyes shining as he pulled out a psychology journal from his jacket front. “But I did find this and others like it. A heap of these magazines all about psychology.” His face beamed.

  “Wow, thanks,” breathed Charlene at last, “but they aren't called `magazines', they're called `journals'. Were there many?” she asked, her face beginning to brighten.

  “Yes, thousands of them. Rows and rows of these journals and books too,” Arthur said with a boyish smile.

  Heidi spoke up, “Arthur, how much of the library was destroyed?”

  “There's about six floors to the library, the psychology floor wasn't touched, just the bottom ones. Some of the flames must have gone up into the second floor, but the rest were filled with books and these maga…” he paused and corrected himself, “I mean `journals'.”

  “That means we can get what we came for, Charlene,” said Heidi. ”I'll focus on finding Phil's office and collect his belongings. We sure are in luck this time. Woohoo!" It wasn't a scream nor was it a hoot, it was a softly mouthed `woohoo'. The dwellers were all softly spoken now, often whispering their conversations. It was extremely rare to hear anyone speak at a normal conversational volume.

  The next night they moved into the top floor of the university library and began building piles of books and journals. It was Arthur's job to move them into the safe house for transport home later. Heidi scouted out Phil's office and collected a bag of his books and photos. She even took a beautiful bronze Greek statue of `Chaos and Erebus' that he had sitting on his desk. She noted in her wanderings around the university that most of the buildings remained untouched.

  Charlene's mood lifted. She was in her element stacking piles of books on psychopaths, post traumatic stress disorder, terrorism, various forms of psychotherapy, forensic criminology and her favourite psychotherapists Rogers, Jung and Freud. She found journal after journal examining so many interesting things that she just couldn't decide what to keep and what to leave behind.

  On the forth afternoon of their adventure a band of terrorists gathered around the duck pond opposite the library. They built an enormous camp fire and began to party. Out of curiosity Heidi and Arthur crept closer to watch. The smell of tobacco and cannabis permeated the stifling heat of the summer afternoon. There were a few hundred revelers drinking and dancing to the loud music coming from one of the trucks.

  Around dusk one of the terrorists brought in six meek prisoners who proceeded to cook on the open fire and serve food to the party-goers. Every now and then one of the terrorists would take a prisoner into the back of the truck. As the party warmed up they saw some of the terrorists pair off, lay down on the grass, and make love in front of everybody. It soon turned into an orgy.

  Heidi was thinking of her own experiences and turned soberly to Arthur, “I think we might be able to save at least one of those prisoners.”

  Arthur's eyes widened in fright. He sucked his breath in and gasped at his lover, “No you don't, no way!” He almost shouted. “Not while we have Charlene with us. What if the terrorists search the library? How can we hide Charlene, the bikes and trolleys and the prisoner? No we can't, and no we won't. You keep telling me to practice self control, well, now it's time you practiced some of your own.” Arthur was firm and frightened. He knew that once Heidi got something into her head nothing could stop it happening.

  “Yeah, I guess you're right.” She turned away. “I can't watch this, let's go.”

  Resigning the prisoners to their fate they crawled backwards into the bushes. The two carefully made their way up to the top floor of the library where their camp was, beside their growing pile of books. Charlene could hear the noise from the party growing louder and was starting to shake violently.

  There was a soft `click click' in the stair well. Charlene snapped herself back to the moment. At first try she failed, but with some effort managed to make three clicks in reply. Heidi saw what was happening to her dear friend, she went over and took her by the hand. She led her out of the corner where she was curled and sat beside her on one of the library benches.

  “You saw them too? I want to rescue those prisoners but I can't,” said Heidi as she reached over and held Charlene tightly, burying her tearing face in her friend's soft bosom. Charlene shuddered with a mixture of ecstatic joy and emotional exhaustion.

  “I know what it's like to be defenceless and afraid.” Heidi said lifting her face and looking at her friend. She wiped the tears from her eyes and put her hand to Charlene's face. “I think we should start preparing to leave tonight and head off tomorrow evening. We have a long way to go, and Arthur,” she looked at her lover's questioning frown, “you still have to get these books stacked and stored in the safe house. That's going to take forever if these terrorists hang around all night.”

  Heidi stood, and with heavy heart walked over to the room where they'd set up their living quarters, and began preparing dinner. She needed to keep busy so she wouldn't think of the plight of those poor prisoners.

  “Charlene,” she called softly. “Make sure you study and learn everything you can about these psychopaths, because one day we just might need that knowledge.” With that she put the pierced tins of food into the fire.

  Phil loved the bag of goodies Heidi brought back from the university, especially his Greek statue. Fatima insisted the three sleep-over while she made them a special dinner with cup cakes for dessert. She used fresh roasted hazelnuts from the trees that lined the neighbourhood, and eggs from the chickens they kept in a well hidden pen nearby.

  While they ate they talked about the state of the university, the library and the prisoners they'd seen. It was a lively conversation and Fatima was the first to say that she would support a rescue attempt.

  Heidi spent days working on a suitable argument. She needed to convince the dwellers they should go back to rescue at least one of the prisoners. Although she wanted to blow the terrorists to hell she knew that was stupid, it would just bring retribution down on everyone. But an escaped prisoner was nothing as long as they could make it look like an escape and not an attack. Now she had Phil and Fatima's support she needed to speak with Tony and Lucy. It was Tony that she really wanted on-side to come along with her and Arthur.

  A few nights later they all met at the supermarket. Tony and Lucy shared their cigarettes with Arthur as they chatted quietly in the warm midnight air. Lucy struggled to keep Annie awake by talking
about the book Heidi had given her. Annie was always more awake during the day than at night and that made the night gathering so awkward for Lucy. Tony carried the burden of going out alone and he sometimes teamed up with Arthur to prowl shopping centres and houses together. It was fortunate that the dwellers got along so well.

  Lucy and Tony listened to Heidi's speech of how they might rescue the prisoners. Heidi noticed that Lucy soon became agitated. She asked what would happen if they were caught or killed in the attempt. The teenager explained that she was working on a plan and wouldn't go ahead unless everyone agreed on it.

  Tony nodded, he was clearly interested. Lucy remained unconvinced and stone-walled every argument. In the end they agreed to talk about it during their next dinner-date at Phil and Fatima's house.

  Charlene rarely went to these shopping centre meetings, the walking and night air took too much out of her. It usually took two, or even three days to recover. Eventually it was Heidi who told her she should stop going. Charlene felt she was letting everyone down. It wasn't until Arthur explained how they lived in fear something might happen to her on these trips, that she nodded in understanding, and agreed it best she stay behind.

  It was depressing to be the odd one out, totally dependent on everyone and completely unproductive. That motivated her to work harder with her reading and study of what drove people to become terrorists. She also worked on her own issues and realised that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was one heck of a nasty disorder. She read everything she could on how to recover. Some of her reading delved into meditation and working with mental imagery but she was often confused by their explanations. If only she could find someone who knew how to heal her mind. She could manage without an arm but controlling her mind was her biggest concern.

  The next dinner party was quite a hoot. Tony had found some bottles of green ginger wine and it tasted incredibly horrid. Fatima soon solved the problem by mixing it with some home-made lemonade and it turned into a heavenly elixir. Everyone got slightly drunk. After little Annie fell asleep in front of the fire the conversation turned to discussing the possible success of a rescue mission.

  Tony explained that he'd spoken at length to Lucy about going with Heidi and Arthur but she was still uncertain. They then discussed other possibilities and settled on taking extra food and water and storing it in the safe house near the university.

  Charlene suggested that she, Lucy and Annie should move in with Phil and Fatima for the duration. The elderly couple were always delighted to have the young folk for company. They had all grown fond of each other over the past months and even warmed to the prickly Lucy.

  It was Lucy who had the final say. She was the only one with a child and in the end they deferred to her. If Lucy said no, then it was off the agenda.

  Lucy looked carefully at her daughter, then at her husband, and finally at Heidi. It was only then that she spoke. “If we're going to do this I have one condition. Heidi, we all love your drive and enthusiasm but you take too many risks for everyone. You're very run down, look at you, you can barely keep your eyes open and you've lost so much weight. I think you should sit this one out and leave it to the boys. Two is faster and safer than three.” She tried to soften the words with her eyes.

  Everyone had enormous faith in the dynamic teenager, `Action Heidi', but Lucy's words made everyone sit back and reflect. They all now turned to look at the young lady, they waited for her to respond.

  Heidi sat still for a moment then stood up abruptly, without looking at anyone she walked outside. When she came back a few minutes later they noticed tears had streaked her cheeks.

  “I understand Lucy, that's a fair call and I have to agree. OK, let's do it then.” But Heidi wasn't ready to release control, oh no. “I suggest we all move some of our belongings in with Phil and Fatima next week. Arthur and I can start bringing supplies across and once we have that done we should all bunk in together to start planning and training. All in favour of action as soon as we're ready, please raise your hands.” They all raised their hands, even Lucy.

  It was mid morning. The two dweller scouts had seen her on several occasions since they'd made their way to the university a few nights ago. They'd done their preparation well; reconnoitred the grounds and stocked their safe house with food and water. Now they were ready for stage two; establishing contact with one of the prisoners.

  It was quite easy. The young woman usually collected a stack of firewood and took it to a truck on the other side of the campus. The boys had followed her twice before and knew every move she would make. None of the guards ever bothered to watch her and so the scouts felt it was safe to talk to her from the cover of the bushes. The guards were always listening to music, smoking, drinking or sleeping.

  “Psst, psst!” called Tony to the girl. “Hey, walk over here so we can speak to you.”

  The girl saw them among the bushes. Looking over her shoulder to check the guards she slowly walked towards them. The emaciated girl pretended to drop her bundle of firewood. As she bent down to pick them up, only a few paces from Tony and Arthur, she spoke quickly.

  “What do you want?” she said in a frightened whisper. “You'd better just get away from here or they'll catch you and torture you.” The girl was covered in scabs and sores, as skinny as an ice addict and twice as dirty.

  “Tell us when the terrorists are holding their next party here because that's when we can rescue you and your friends,” whispered Tony, leaning closer to her.

  “What?” she asked her eyes lifting incredulously. “Rescue us? Are you crazy? We'll just die. There's no food out there and besides they'd just hunt us down. We're better off staying here with them.”

  “But… we have a small group of survivors and we'll look after you.” He couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Tony's voice reflected his disappointment when she didn't jump at the chance to escape. The two young men looked at each other wondering what was wrong with this girl.

  “I don't think any of the others will want to escape either. We're cared for well enough as long as we do as we're told. You should go back to where you came from. Go away, it's dangerous here.” She finished collecting her sticks and straightened up.

  Tony called out to her as she walked away, “We'll be here tomorrow, same time, same place. If you change your mind, be here.”

  The boys looked at each other as they silently made their way back to the safe house. Once inside the scouts discussed what to do if the prisoners refused to leave with them. It had never entered anyone's mind that the prisoners would want to endure such horrid conditions.

  Neither had noticed the guard walking towards the girl to stare beyond her at the bushes where the two had hidden.

  Chapter 13 - Nulla - Love Nest

  He woke up late in the afternoon confused but in a heightened state of awareness. After a wash, some food and a chat with the boys, he settled down and prepared to be reunited with Glenda.

  He invited them to make suggestions on how to bring her back to their safe house. The boys thought they should all go and camp there for the duration, but Nulla vetoed that. He was confident they could now cope by themselves, and he praised them for being so efficient.

  Going outside into the bright sunlight he checked the booby traps. He told them they were set as professionally as any cavalry trooper would have done. The boys beamed with pride and he told them to leave some of the booby traps set permanently.

  Given the terrorist patrol may have seen him last night he planned on an alternative route back to Glenda. He told the boys to just sit tight and he would bring her back on the fifth night. If he wasn't back then they should go and find him. Nulla gave a description and the address then showed the best route to take on their street map. He also instructed them to set their CB back up and make sure the batteries were fully charged from their solar charger.

  They needed more up to date data on Army C movements and details of their conversations. The terrorists now controlled most of the city of Adela
ide. He also instructed them to set up the long antennae again and try to re-establish contact with Charlie in Sydney. Charlie transmitted quite regularly on news from Sydney since the `apocalypse' as the boys called it. They were instructed to practice their Morse code too.

  Nulla placed great confidence in his boys knowing they'd be careful in their communications with `Sydney Charlie'. They had been busy screening all HF and UHF channels for traffic before the terrorist incident and Nulla wanted them to resume monitoring. The boys set up a roster to do four hour shifts, twenty four hours a day, until he returned.

  The powerfully built aboriginal warrior stepped out with a loaded pack of food, water and his weapons. The first quarter moon was yet to rise and he wanted to be deep into his trip before it did. He knew the moon rose two hours later every evening so he should get there before it was up. He also noticed that the weather was turning cool and he expected rain.

  Luke escorted him part of the way and set up a mini safe house over the rest of that evening, about a kilometre into the journey. A safety measure that Nulla said wasn't necessary, but the boys insisted. Privately, Nulla was pleased they were using their initiative and pushed him when they believed they were right.

  He waved to Luke as he stepped back into the pitch black night, his night vision goggles set squarely on his head, and his Steyr in his hands. Nulla's step had a spring to it and he started to hum an old love song from his childhood, `The Girl From Ipanema'. Straight away he stopped and shut his mind back down.

  He rebuilt his state of calm. `Focus, you love sick fool,' he told himself. `The last time you did that you almost got yourself killed.' Chuckling to himself he settled down on his journey and arrived well before dawn.

  Checking the signs around the house he was satisfied that no terrorists had snooped about while he was gone. With a quickening heart he stepped into the kitchen and whistled the code for `coming in'. Then he called out to Glenda just in case she was waiting with her AK47. Unloading his pack from his tired shoulders he put the food in the kitchen and the first aid kit in the downstairs lounge room.