by Peter Liney
“No! No! . . . Not now! . . . Please! Let them be!”
And do you know something? All of a sudden, in the most abrupt of fashions, they did stop.
There was an unbearable weight of silence, almost worse than the sound of the lasers. The moon appeared so suddenly I wondered if someone had flicked a switch. Everyone was looking up, rows and rows of frightened faces waiting for it to start again. I mean, we’ve never seen them punish like that before. Not wholesale. We thought they must be recharging or something. Seconds went by; no one spoke, no one moved, no one even checked on the dead. Then this giggling started behind me. Not frightened, nor nervous, the other sort, kind of joyful. I turned around, wondering who the hell it was, and saw Jimmy. The crazy little bastard was sniggering like a child about to unwrap his birthday presents.
“What the hell’s got into you?” I muttered.
But he just laughed even louder. “Hey, Big Guy,” he said. “D’you like fireworks?”
Suddenly the satellites opened up again, there was another thrust of searing light, but it didn’t go to the ground, it went to another satellite. One of them actually shot another. I saw it get blown out of the sky, then start tumbling down over the ocean. Then another. And another. They all started zapping one another up there. It was like some huge version of a video game, with the whole of the sky acting as the screen. One by one, like enormous golden raindrops, the satellites came burning down from the heavens.
Jimmy was positively beside himself. “I told you, Big Guy!” he cried. “I told you I could change the world!”
And finally I realized what was going on. That was what he’d been doing when we left the tunnels. What he said he’d do. Setting up an antenna in the garden, trying to talk to those things, get them to do what he wanted. He must’ve set a program to kick in once his decoder had broken down their security.
I turned to him, too stunned to speak, shaking my head in wonder at my foolishness at ever doubting him. A satellite plummeted down on the Island, crashing onto the Head. People were starting to cheer every time one got hit. It was delirium. Over on the Mainland, far into the distance, they were raining down. Jesus, what must they be thinking? Suddenly they had no law and order. No security. The satellites were all there was. And in that moment, a thought struck me, so incredible, so awesome, I could barely hold it in my body. I just stood there, shivering and shaking, gasping for breath, unable to say what was in my mind.
And it wasn’t just me, neither. The same thought must’ve been occurring all over, cuz suddenly this huge roar went up. Not just from us, but from the whole damn Island, from one end to the other. Even over in the Village I could hear the call, the cry, this shout of Freedom!
There was nothing to hold us here anymore. We could get off this filthy stinking mound of garbage. And then and there, everyone turned and started to run toward the pier. It was utter, mad chaos. People were coming from all over, scrambling over mounds of garbage, shouting and calling to each other, streaming down that moonlit hill as if peeling life off the Island. I grabbed Lena’s hand and tugged her along, Jimmy and Delilah following, the kids, too. All of us joining in with this mad, irresistible surge.
By the time we got to the pier a lot of people were already in the water. You could see a line of flotsam and jetsam bobbing around as the first wave set out for the Mainland. One or two managed to commandeer boats, but anything would do: lengths of timber, plastic containers, old oil drums. Some didn’t even bother to find anything, they just ran to the end of the pier and jumped in. I tell you, it was the most joyous sight I’ve ever seen. As if, with the restoration of freedom, we’d reawakened our humanity.
Jimmy found this inflatable under the pier, called us over, but there wasn’t enough room and I sent him on with Delilah and the kids. Lena and I managed to dig out an old wooden door. It barely floated but it didn’t matter. We just hung on to it, half-on, half-off, kicking away with our feet. The funny thing was, there didn’t seem to be any need. Maybe it was the tide, but it felt like general momentum was carrying us over. This huge mass of people, a floating crowd, being borne across to the Mainland, a terrible wrong finally righted.
God knows how many of us there were, but in places you could barely see the moon reflected in the water, we were so thick upon it. I could see Villagers I was convinced couldn’t walk, now swimming. Quietly, serenely, just a gentle sidestroke, but you knew that if they never did another thing in their lives, they were going to do this. A few were singing. Maybe Delilah started it. I don’t know. Apart from paddling, all Lena and I were capable of was laughing. God knows what over. Everything, I guess. I tell you, I never knew this old body had the capacity for such happiness.
As the City got a little nearer, I noticed that new building, the huge one that Jimmy always reckoned was one of the utilities, was, in fact, the headquarters of Infinity International. Jesus, who the hell are these people? What are they up to?
Not that it matters. No way are we going to hang around here. We’re going to take off into the wilderness and find ourselves somewhere to settle. I got this desire to put my arms around a tree, to feel life passing through me again; to dislodge this damn shit that’s encrusted in my lungs and fill them with pure air once more.
There was an explosion behind us and I turned to see the Village aflame. I don’t know whether a falling satellite started a fire or if someone lit one as they left, but it must’ve ignited a chain blowout, cuz the whole place was now burning furiously. I turned to Lena, her wet hair trailing across a face that never looked so beautiful, and told her what was going on, automatically, the way I do now.
Garbage. Nothing but garbage. But we ain’t anymore. We proved that. We also proved something else. A body can be held captive, be abused and tortured, a mind can be distorted or terrorized, but give people hope, give them something to believe in, and somehow they’ll claw their way out of almost anything. I don’t know what you want to call that. The survival instinct? The human spirit? No doubt you’ll be able to put better words to it than me. I’m just a dumb old big guy. Simple, with simple dreams and desires. And who knows, maybe now Lena and me might be able to fulfill some of them.
I reached across to put my arm around her, the door momentarily submerging, then rising back up again. In turn, she tried to kiss me, but only managed to brush my lips before falling back into the water.
“I love you,” she told me.
“I love you,” I replied, unable to finish the sentence without bursting into laughter.
I never ever dreamed I’d see this day. Never even dreamed there was such a dream for me. I stopped paddling for a moment, holding on to Lena’s hand, smiling at those around us, wanting to savor the moment. Leaning back and looking up at the moon, taking a deep breath and holding it within my body, the stench of the Island finally fading away and being replaced by something altogether sweeter.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
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