When it smashed into the earth not two hundred metres from their home, that symbolism was shattered, and the people were left rocked and feeling vulnerable. That vulnerability became fear, and the fear became aggression.
People spoke of leaving. Others sat quietly and tried to hide their fear.
The council met again after the evening meal on the second night after the crash. Lexi gave her report as to the internal discipline matters, expressing her concerns that she could not leave the site for fear that people would tear each other apart. Paul had been of some obvious help in keeping the peace, but his move into Ops was an interim solution at best.
They were vulnerable. The power vacuum that had been caused by so many of their key members leaving and taking their precious skills and knowledge with them had not even begun to be filled.
DEMOCRACY
“Head sheds meeting,” Mitch called loudly to their group as they walked back in during the afternoon.
The ‘head sheds’ being a military term he used for a decision making meeting involving the key players of any group. Rank did not necessarily mean that obedience was expected. Everyone who had a point could make it, and the group would decide the best course of action.
The expected faces gathered. Dan, Marie, Mitch, Neil, Kate, Sera and Leah. Others who joined at the fringes were Adam, never far from Mitch now, and Pip. Her addition was unexpected, but she was welcome. Even Ash nosed his way into the circle, but not to offer any wisdom. He was there for the chance of food.
Dan laid out their meeting with Simon, explaining that they had tried to make their excuses and leave but had been asked outright for help.
“They’re farmers with shotguns,” said Mitch, feeling the injustice at their persecution.
“It’s not about two other groups pissing over territory,” Dan said, not entirely believing it but not wanting to jeopardize the safety of the group over his need to fight bullies. “It’s about the fuel. They have it and we need it, so we either fight them for it or we look elsewhere.”
Silence reigned amongst the small huddle.
“Thoughts,” Dan invited, familiar to some assembled as he always wanted to hear other people’s ideas.
Neil was the first to speak.
“Look elsewhere. It may be the nearest and the best but we could scavenge using hand pumps and the big tank on the Land Rover. It’ll take us longer but we can manage,” he said.
“It’ll take too long,” answered Mitch. “They have all the fuel we need and we can get it in one go.” Dan knew that he really wanted to mix it with the group and see if they could manage a soldier instead of a farmer, reckoning that he would be far harder to kill. It was a prideful form of arrogance that they could ill afford, but one that Dan had been guilty of in the past on more than one occasion.
“Look elsewhere,” said Kate, ever eager to avoid any bloodshed. Sera nodded her agreement, as Dan thought she would.
He looked to the next face in the circle.
“Take it. They deserve what they get,” said Adam, echoing Mitch.
He looked to Pip, who felt that they shouldn’t pick a fight unless they had to. He looked to Ash who returned his gaze with a daft expression and a lip tucked behind some teeth. That was his ‘I’m a good boy’ face.
He chuckled and turned to Leah.
“Pro’s and cons,” she said, full of competent confidence. “It’s a one-hit shopping trip, and I agree that they deserve a bullet for killing unarmed survivors…”
“But?” Dan asked, knowing there was more.
“But we can’t run the risk of losing anyone. There are few of us who know how to use a gun properly as it is; if even one of us gets hurt then the whole trip could be ruined.”
Nobody could argue with that, and Dan turned to the last person present.
“I agree with Leah,” said Marie. “If things were different then we would stay and help, but we can’t. I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks that it’s already getting colder and I don’t want to be crossing the ocean when the weather is bad. We need to find an alternative. This time.”
The decision was made by the group. As much as it pained him, he had to deny his help to a man who he found he had liked. They would have to fend for themselves.
Small parties were detailed to go out and find as much fuel as they could the following morning, and they settled in for another evening. As the sun was fully down so too the temperature dropped. As Dan stood on the grand balcony of their borrowed home to smoke, he looked out over the beautiful calm waters. Without light pollution the surroundings were utterly stunning. Breath-taking.
The calm silence was shattered as his ears detected the unmistakable sounds of gunfire in the distance. He could make out an echoing, booming report of a shotgun followed by the more staccato sharp note of a rifle as the sounds echoed around the bay. He threw down his cigarette and strode back inside, snatching up his carbine as he moved.
“Leah. Mitch. With me,” he said with purpose. The two jumped up and quickly prepared for whatever would come next.
“Neil. Adam,” he shouted. When they appeared he told them to secure the house.
“Lock it down and don’t come out until we’re back, and keep Ash inside. Jimmy?” He looked at the assembled faces.
“Here,” came the reply.
“Keep watch on the front,” Jimmy nodded and hefted his shotgun.
He pulled back the bolt on his carbine and checked that he could see brass before bursting through the expensive glass doorway and out into the night.
The three moved quickly and silently between the shadows, always one covering as the others moved. They flowed intrinsically, fluidly, playing out a story of endless hours of practice and years of experience. They leapfrogged like this for over a mile without the need for communication when the sounds of the gun battle faded to nothing.
As they approached the building line short of where Dan and Mitch had encountered the other group earlier, Leah gave a short, low whistle and took cover. The two men mimicked her, melting into the shadows to present smaller targets to whatever had spooked their young comrade.
Slowly, from the gloom, emerged two men. One was being supported by a bigger man and was pressing his hand to his left side. Sobs could be heard from the wounded man as he was almost dragged along the sea front away from the danger.
As the shapes became more recognisable, Dan saw that the big man was Simon. He broke cover and ran forwards, taking over the burden from the exhausted man. He hurried them back towards cover and continued past Mitch and Leah, eager to put distance and buildings between them and whatever threat lay up ahead.
After a while he stopped and lay the wounded man on the ground against a low wall. All three were out of breath and Dan began to assess the injury.
A bullet had passed through his left side, just above the hip and miraculously missing the vital organs only inches away. He reached inside his clothing to check for an exit wound on his back prompting a cry of anguish.
Leah burst into his view and Dan glanced up to see Mitch adopting a new position to face the direction they had come from. The girl snatched a dressing from a pouch on her vest having seen the blood blackening clothing in the moonlight.
“Through-and-through,” muttered Dan. “Nothing internal by the feel of it,” he said to her in a low voice. He left the girl to patch the ragged wound as best she could in the dark and pulled Simon away. The man was breathing heavily, barely able to catch his breath.
“What happened?” hissed Dan.
“Bastards came for us when it got dark,” he said through ragged breathing. “It was Riley who led them to us,” he finished.
“Why?” he asked, suspecting that he could guess the answer having seen the petulant jealousy evident on the man when he had met him earlier.
“We argued over what to do,” came the response. He spoke too loudly and received a warning to keep his voice down, “so the bastard tried to organise a coup,” answered Sim
on, quieter this time.
Dan let him catch his breath, waiting for more of the story to unfold.
“Nobody would follow him in the end, so he left,” he said. He bent double and put his face in his hands.
“I had no idea he was going to go straight to them and say where we were,” he finished, dumbstruck at the savage turn of events.
Dan’s anger flashed inside him, reminding him that he couldn’t help himself but interject in the injustices of other’s lives. It was one of his biggest character flaws that he couldn’t simply mind his own business sometimes.
“How many?” he asked in a low voice filled with loathing.
Simon stopped panting, fixed Dan with a look of almost desperate terror.
“Everyone,” he said lamely.
Not counting Riley, Simon and his injured friend, the betrayal had cost the lives of seven men. The senseless loss of life made him livid with rage. He wanted to walk in there right now and end every last one of them.
But for what? For defending their resources against other armed men? For sneaking into another camp and killing people who threatened them?
For doing what Dan had done himself to others?
He shook himself out of his pointless murderous mood, forcing his concentration back to the immediate.
“We need to get him back to our group,” he said. “He needs more medical help than we can give here or he won’t make it.”
“We do,” growled Leah in frustration as she packed dressings into the twin bullet holes. “I can’t stop the bleeding with what I have. We need Kate.”
Dan reckoned they’d need Sera more with her knowledge of surgery being more in-depth than Kate’s but didn’t think the difference was worth pointing out there and then. The man was breathing in shallow, rapid gasps and had gone very quiet. Only infrequent and weak yelps escaped his lips now as the teenager tried to keep pressure on his wounds. He was going into shock and was not going to make it out here.
He turned and gave the familiar short, low whistle to signal Mitch. The soldier leapt up and ran to him.
“Through and through to the abdomen. Going into shock. We need to carry him back.” Mitch absorbed the information instantly, passing Dan his carbine as he hauled the man up and threw him on his shoulder into a fireman’s lift. Leah went ahead, scanning for danger as Dan walked backwards to maintain a rear guard. Their progress back to the bay was far slower than their first leg, but luckily there seemed to be no pursuit.
After an eternity struggling slowly through the dark, they returned to the steps leading from the water to their borrowed house. Another whistle indicated to them that their house guards had seen them appear. More help arrived and the now unconscious man was carried up the steps to be laid on the large, expensive dining table. Food tins and bottles were scattered as space was cleared and Kate shouted for everyone to get out of her way.
Instinctively Sera ran to her side as Leah gave the report.
“Entry and exit wound, left side. I can’t stop the bleeding.” Kate nodded as she produced a heavy set of medical shears and cut away the clothing before pulling back the dressings Leah had packed onto the victim. Blood welled up instantly and spilled over the side of the table to cascade to the expensively white tiled floor; the beauty of the awful juxtaposition both captivating and horrific.
Kate pressed the dressing back down firmly and barked orders at stunned people foolish enough to be in her line of sight as she worked.
“Cushions; elevate his feet,” she snapped at a very pale Henry. To his credit he immediately switched on and did as he was told.
Sera took up the mantle and ordered two others to find towels. She laid a brief hand on Kate’s shoulder and said that she would fetch their equipment. Ash whined and backpedalled to the side of the room as he sensed the urgency and fear in his humans.
Dan withdrew, leaving those with the knowledge to do what they did best. If anyone could save this man’s life it was the fearless paramedic and her frosty vet partner.
Neil and Adam had stayed outside to defend the building and he nodded to Leah and Mitch to join them. Both went without a word.
He met Simon’s eye and gestured for him to follow to the balcony where he was stood when he first heard the shots.
NOT EVERY BATTLE IS YOURS TO FIGHT
Dan stood and lit a cigarette, ignoring the blood already crusting on his shaking hands. It wasn’t fear, he knew that; it was the body purging the excess adrenaline from his system. He was all-too familiar with the physiological reaction to a life-threatening situation, unlike after his debut battle where had vomited uncontrollably after the first time he ever pulled a trigger in anger.
His dog came to his side and nuzzled him for reassurance. Simon stood in front of him with a stony, lifeless expression.
“They swarmed in and just started shooting,” he said quietly, deflated and empty. “We didn’t stand a chance. We just ran and tried to hide. Some of us managed to shoot back for a while but there were too many of them.”
Of course they didn’t stand a chance, thought Dan. They probably didn’t even place sentries. They probably camped too close to an enemy. They were farmers, not warriors.
“Me and Al were shooting back, trying to get some others out but when he got shot I just picked him up and ran.” He hung his head, the realisation that his actions felt like cowardice suddenly stinging him.
“If you hadn’t then you’d all be dead,” Dan responded calmly, trying to avoid an emotional meltdown in the big man.
“All of this over some bloody fuel,” Simon cursed angrily, “like people didn’t have enough to fight over before!”
The irony of the situation was not lost on Dan; it seemed even the last remnants of the human race were destined to go to war over fossil fuels.
“And now they’re dead. For nothing. We were going to leave in the morning, so God only knows what the bastard Riley told them our plans were.” The full force of the loss hit him, and he cried shamelessly. He sunk to the floor and sat there. Dan left him for a while to get it out of his system, ever awkward around others’ emotions.
On looking back inside the house he could see that the man on the table was still subject to a desperate flurry of attention to try and save his life. His eyes met Marie’s as she wordlessly invited an explanation with raised eyebrows. He flicked his cigarette behind him for it to fly into the dark abyss of the shimmering harbour like a solitary firework in the distance.
He walked back inside and saw her look of annoyance at the red stains covering his hands. She snatched up a pack of baby wipes and began to scrub at the dried blood obsessively as he talked, as though being busy and clean could make this whole mess go away. He told her everything he knew in a succinct report, avoiding investing his words with the impotent anger he felt.
“Well we need to get away from here as soon as possible,” she said.
For once Dan agreed. Never one to run away from a fight, he had no intention of trying to take on an overwhelming force with only a few soldiers experienced in the exchange of bullets. His attention was violently torn away from their conversation as he heard a shout of “FUCK” from the dining area.
He turned to see Kate giving chest compressions to the man, knowing the outcome already as his exposed skin showed almost clear from the blood loss.
She shouted for the defibrillator to be brought and Dan stepped in to take over the CPR whilst she set it up.
Over the next minute she tried four shocks from the automated machine as everyone stood clear in resigned silence as they followed the instructions from the electronic voice.
She gave up, finally admitting that he couldn’t be saved. People melted away, some in tears and others in quiet shock. Without being asked, Henry brought a fresh bedsheet from an airing cupboard and laid it over the man with a maturity and reverence that Dan didn’t realise he possessed. He seemed a little embarrassed by his actions, and went red. Dan recognised the decent thing that he did and laid a
hand on his shoulder as he passed, returning to Marie.
She tutted again and began to work with the wipes to remove the fresh blood on the recently cleaned skin. It was no good; the dark liquid had worked its way into the creases of his rough hands and stubbornly refused to budge. She stopped wasting her efforts.
“We need to leave,” she said again as she poked a stern finger into his ballistic vest, before turning away to check on the others.
A look around the room saw people hugging each other. For many this would be the first time they had seen such a sight. For others, the repetition would be no easier to stomach.
He stood outside the front door and gave the whistle to recall his sentries. He left Neil to guard the door and asked Leah to fetch her big rifle with its light-enhancing scope to take the balcony overlooking the area. Both nodded without a word and went to fetch what they needed for the first stint of a night shift.
Kate and Sera were wrapping the man in the sheet and cleaning up the detritus of torn dressing packs. Ana had started to clean up the blood on the floor. Everywhere he looked he saw his gang rapidly getting over the experience and moving on with their lives. Despite the awful gravity of the evening’s events, he felt a small surge of pride for how resilient they were, and hoped that he hadn’t let them down by asking them to follow him.
Henry, having already impressed Dan, made the world a far better place by his next move. He lit the camping cooker in the kitchen and set some water to boil.
Leah returned having added an extra layer of clothing and moved the balcony tables together to form a firing platform she could lay down on, adding a roll mat to the top and settling in to nestle the huge rifle against her cheek. To be such a professional at that age was a marvel for Dan to watch. He gave her shoulder a squeeze as she settled in to get comfortable.
He brought Simon inside and sat him on the plush sofa as Marie appeared to take over. He was cleaned up, fresh clothes were found to replace the bloodstained ones he wore, and a hot drink was placed gently in his hands. Henry made the rounds, dishing out cups of black coffee to others. He took a cup to Leah who grunted a sullen thanks to the boy who stared at her too much for her liking. Dan found himself looking into the eager eyes of the boy who was holding a cup out to him.
Hope: After It Happened Book 4 Page 5
