Beyond These Walls | Book 8 | Between Fury & Fear

by Robertson, Michael

  Armed with his steel pole, William headed back towards the arena. He used the main road that ran parallel to the one he’d led the diseased down. He tracked his progress with the fire escapes along his side of the buildings until he came to the one with the missing railing. He cut into the alley he’d already run down and halted at the end. A quick check. The diseased had gone. Some were gathered by the scavengers’ warehouse, but many of them were already inside. And good riddance. The scavengers’ behaviour made them subhuman. Worse than the diseased. Fuck them.

  There wouldn’t be a better chance. William ran from the alley for a second time. But now he headed towards the arena.

  The drones remained focused on the arena’s roof as if nothing had changed. As if the diseased were invisible to them. William ran towards them with light steps. They were yet to turn his way. The arena, like the hotel he’d led the drones into, had an underground carpark. The best place to handicap the vicious killing machines.

  “Best make this count,” William muttered to himself. Fifteen feet from the drones, he pulled the soldier’s baton from the back of his trousers and yelled, “Tilly! Artan!”

  Five spotlights turned his way. Even in the daytime, their combined glare dazzled him. He launched the baton, drawing the machine’s fire.

  “William?”

  The whir of the drones’ guns. Their spinning ends had turned into glowing red circles.

  “Tilly?” William threw the steel pole. The drones shot at it.

  “What are you doing?”

  William ran. The drones’ bullets ate into the asphalt where he’d stood moments before. “Get to the tower. Gracie will meet us there after dark.”

  William zigzagged to make himself harder to shoot. He turned a sharp left down the ramp to the car park beneath the arena.

  The acoustics of being underground made it sound like the number of drones’ had doubled.

  A steel door over to William’s right. There might be better options, but if the drones turned their lights off, he’d be running blind. He ran through the door and slammed it shut behind him. The ting of bullet fire sprayed the other side.

  “Fuck!” He’d expected a staircase. He’d found a small room. Filled with old plastic bottles and several ratty brooms, he’d run into the cleaner’s cupboard. He grabbed a chair and wedged it beneath the door handle. That would only hold for so long.

  The spray of bullet fire against the other side of the door started his countdown. At some point, the steel would yield to their assault. If William hadn’t found a way out by then, their bullets would tear him to shreds.

  Chapter 35

  A steel door might have separated William from the drones, but there were steel doors and there were steel doors. This one had already started to yield to the first spray of bullets. A splattering of indents evidenced their attack. The drones had to run out of ammo at some point, but he couldn’t bank on that. And like with Matilda and Artan in the arena’s roof, they could wait there forever for him to come out. He’d starve before they got bored.

  Thud!

  William jumped away from the door, crashing into a row of rusting metal shelves behind him. A drone had slammed into it, the impression of its contact pushing into the room. The glow from the drones’ lights flooded through the new gaps both above and below.

  Thud!

  A second drone hit the door and bent it further. “Shit!” William muttered. How did he get himself stuck in a dark cleaning cupboard? Although, while dark, it wasn’t pitch black. It hadn’t been pitch black even before the bent door let in the drones’ light. A weak glow came into the room from a vent up to his right where the wall met the ceiling.

  Thud!

  The door couldn’t withstand this attack. The vent cover, between two to three feet square, fronted a metal tunnel of a similar size. Along with a faint glow of daylight, it ushered in the slightest breeze.

  Thud!

  Wherever it took him, anywhere had to be better than his current spot.

  Hum-thud!

  The longer the drones believed him to be cowering on the other side of the door, fearing his imminent end from their rotating guns, the more time he’d have to get out of there. If he could avoid giving the game away …

  Reaching up, William gripped the vent cover and held his breath. The hum of another drone closed in.

  Hummmmm-thud!

  William tugged as the drone connected. The cover came free in his hands.

  Thud!

  The gap along the bottom of the door would soon be wide enough to give a drone access to the room. William trembled as he rested the liberated grate against the wall. He had the heartbeat of a panicked mouse, but he fought against it. Slow and steady. He needed to get away from there without them knowing. He pushed his arms into the tunnel and wriggled his upper body into the tight space after them.

  Thud!

  A tight metal crawlspace, he shuffled all the way in, an inch or two’s clearance on either side of his body.

  Thud!

  The drones’ attacks grew fainter as William crawled farther away. The tunnel changed direction up ahead, which blocked much of the light, but it didn’t stop the fresh breeze. The smell of freedom … If he moved fast enough.

  Thud.

  The tunnel took a vertical right-angled turn. William turned over onto his back, the echo of his own gasping breaths mocking him. It joined the sounds of his scrambling feet from where he kicked and scraped to turn himself over.

  Thud. Thud.

  The vertical section of the tunnel stretched up by about four feet. William slapped his hands against the tunnel’s flat metal walls, bracing against the smooth sides, and sat up in the tight space. He turned and pulled his knees around, dragging them under him before he stood up. The short vertical section forced him to stoop. He faced down the tunnel at the brighter daylight at the end. The air fresher than before, it turned his sweating skin cool.

  Thud.

  William stretched forwards for a second time, reaching his hands out ahead of him towards daylight. He jumped and caught himself by slamming his feet against either side of the vertical tunnel. The metal cold against his chest, William slithered towards daylight, pulling himself with his upper body.

  Thud!

  The rending of steel was followed by the clatter of a falling door. An angry burst of gunfire tore into the room he’d left behind.

  William pulled with his arms and then pushed with his feet. He moved down the tunnel like a frog swimming through mud, his panicked breaths echoing in the tight space. Focused on the exit, he pulled and then pushed, pulled and then pushed, pulle—

  A hinged grate gave way beneath William, falling from the bottom of the tunnel. It squeaked as it swung. It hung down into the dark car park.

  He could jump down now and escape. He’d be quicker on foot. But it would also land him much closer to the drones, and he still couldn’t see well.

  The hum of the drones’ engines echoed off the car park’s walls.

  William dragged his body over the grate and continued towards the light. Daylight would give him a better chance of survival.

  Six feet from the grate leading outside, the hum of a drone’s propellors grew so loud William halted. They were in the car park beneath him where the grate had swung open. The brilliant glow from its spotlight flooded the tunnel, reflecting off the shining metal. Had it seen him?

  The drone’s spinning guns whined.

  A spray of bullets burst through the open hole. They ate into the steel air vent’s roof.

  The line of fire moved towards William, punching up through the part of the tunnel he’d just slid across.

  William braced his feet against either side of the tunnel and pushed forwards. He pulled with his hands while the bullet fire behind him tore holes through the steel. If the thing stopped shooting for a moment, it might hear him.

  As the drone ripped the ventilation shaft to shreds, William reached the grate at the end. He slammed an open palm
against it. The metal cover fell away and clattered against the concrete outside.

  Only a foot to the ground, William squirmed from the shaft as if birthed from it. He landed hard on his right shoulder, scrambled to his feet, and took off at a sprint in the direction of Gracie’s tower.

  Chapter 36

  The deep rumble of an exploding mine called to them through the city. “That’s what, the fifth one?” William said.

  Artan’s voice came from the darkness. “The seventh.”

  “Wow, that many? I suppose the city’s probably dealing with more diseased in its streets than it’s had in a long time.” After escaping the drones, William followed what had become a familiar path back to Gracie’s tower. Matilda and Artan were waiting for him.

  “You know,” William said, “I felt grateful for the chance to rest.”

  “For the first two hours,” Matilda said.

  “Right. Now it’s getting tedious. How much longer do you think it will be until Gracie gets here?”

  Artan’s deep voice resonated in the enclosed space. “It must be dark out now.”

  The clack of the door handle snapped down. Groaning hinges ushered moonlight into the room.

  While blinking, William stumbled to his feet and squinted at the silhouette. “Gracie?”

  “Who else would it be?”

  “I dunno. A lot’s happened in this city I wasn’t expecting.”

  Gracie walked over to Matilda, held her hand down, and pulled her to her feet. “So are you all ready to go?”

  “How’s it looking out there?” Artan said.

  “There are a lot of diseased. The others told me how you broke out of the ice hockey arena. Fear’s army is going to be gunning for you lot.”

  William shook his head. “We don’t intend on coming back.”

  Gracie stepped towards the door. “I think that’s a wise choice. Now let’s go.”

  They headed away from the city, the ice hockey arena and metal tower at their backs.

  After five minutes running, the buildings turned to rubble much like the house they’d camped in before entering the city. Ruin started at the edge of this place and ate its way in. It slowly chewed through the buildings like the disease slowly chewed through humanity. A rising tide of inevitability.

  Gracie slowed the pace. There were too many obstacles waiting to trip them up if they were careless. Walls only a foot high, sheets and lumps of steel, metal bars encased and protruding from chunks of concrete. Their rusty fingers would tear skin and infect wounds.

  A sheet of metal like many others in the ruins, Gracie checked around before she hunched down and dragged it clear, revealing a plain hatch. She pulled a key from her pocket and slid it into a hole that had been hard to spot at first. A gentle clack, she lifted the door to reveal a tunnel beneath. She slid in and moved aside to let the others follow.

  After closing the hatch, Gracie flicked a switch on the wall. It lit the place up.

  “Jeez!” William covered his burning eyes. “That’s bright.”

  “It needs to be down here.”

  Despite its raggedy entrance, the square tunnel belonged to a different time. Smooth, dark grey steel panels on the floor, walls, and ceiling. Highly polished, they gave off a reflective shine, enhancing the glow from the lights.

  It took them about ten minutes to reach another steel door, which Gracie knocked against seven times.

  The crack of a bolt freed on the other side. The hinges groaned.

  William’s jaw fell wide as he followed Gracie into her community. The guard stood aside. In his early twenties, he had large features, a thick brow, jet black hair, and a jawline that could have been carved from rock. At least six feet five inches tall, he had thick hands and wide shoulders. He scowled in response to William’s smile. Miserable bastard.

  The tunnel had transitioned them from the past to the future. It had been both functional and unlike anything William had ever seen. And then they reached her community. William’s jaw fell wide. “It’s like we’ve entered a new world.” Similar flooring to the tunnel, inasmuch as they had the floor, walls, and ceiling lined with steel, but there were many more lights. Although they gave off a duller glow, they revealed the intricate patterns on the walls. They showed them many doors leading to what must have been other parts of the complex.

  “Welcome to Dout. This is where we live. It’s late, so most people are sleeping. It’s why we’ve dimmed the lights. Despite living underground, we try to follow the natural rhythm of day and night to keep everyone’s sleep cycles regular. These”—she pointed at the light bulbs—“are UV bulbs.”

  “What does that mean?” Artan said.

  “UV rays are important. It’s what we get from the sun. These bulbs, while not a perfect substitute, emit the same rays, which help us stay healthy. Anyway”—she batted the air with her hand—“I’m sure you’re tired and need to rest. Let me show you to where you’re staying. The others are already in your room. I’ll give you more of a tour of the place and introduce you to everyone tomorrow.”

  William’s entire body had throbbed with a dull ache for hours, but now faced with the prospect of rest, his muscles twitched as if they might seize. Pains ran from the tips of his toes to the ends of every strand of hair. His heart flirted with a fatigue-induced panic attack, forcing him to take deep gulps. Standing aside so Gracie could lead them away, he let Artan and Matilda walk ahead of him. All the while, the watchful eyes of the guard who’d let them in burned into the back of his skull. But that was his job, right? To protect the community. And who wouldn’t suspect new people?

  A shake of his head to derail his spiralling thoughts, William fought against his urge to turn and face the guard, his back tingling at the imagined knife plunging into it. But they were supposed to be suspicious. He’d be the same. And for now, they needed to rest.

  Chapter 37

  The dim lights gradually brightened, easing William back to wakefulness. The second he’d lain down the previous evening, he’d passed out. Although, while his mind had rested, his body had a lot more healing to do. Before he’d fallen onto the soft mattress last night, he’d ached from head to toe. And, if anything, the rest had made it worse.

  Someone knocked on the door. From the way the others instantly raised their heads, they’d been lying awake too. Max, Artan, Matilda, William, Olga, Hawk, and Dianna had all chosen to share a room despite being offered separate accommodation. They didn’t know this place, and until they did, they were better together.

  Olga spoke in a croaky voice. “Come in.”

  But the door remained closed, and the person knocked again.

  Olga called louder this time. “Come in!”

  Gracie replied, the closed door muffling her response, “You have to let me in.”

  Artan groaned as he got out of bed. The boy had stamina and strength, but he hid it in his slim frame. Wiry, every bone in his body visible, he’d yet to reach the age where he’d changed from boy to man. Their sparse diet over the past few weeks hadn’t helped.

  Crack! Artan slammed his palm against the panel in the wall. The door slid open.

  A slight flush to her pale skin, Gracie looked down before looking into Artan’s eyes. She then focused anywhere but on the boy. William smiled and raised his eyebrows at Matilda.

  “Uh …” Gracie said, “breakfast’s ready.” She turned her back on the room. “I’ll wait outside for you to get changed.”

  Olga laughed. “You sure you don’t want more of an eyeful?”

  Gracie walked away.

  The dining hall was a functional space. The same daylight bulbs lit the room, which had rows of benches and tables throughout to accommodate what appeared to be a large community. There were already at least two hundred people in the room. Every one of them watched William and the others enter the hall.

  Olga spoke from the side of her mouth, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Well, this is awkward.”

  Gracie led them to one corner
of the room. As he walked behind her, weaving through the tables, William’s stomach rumbled and his mouth watered.

  There were seven plates laden with food. William sat down and lifted a bread roll. Still warm, he tore it open, releasing a waft of steam. They each had a small bowl on their plate filled with strawberry jam. He spread a chunk on his roll and shoved the entire thing into his mouth.

  Gracie smiled. “For a small community, we eat well.”

  “I can see that.”

  “Now enjoy.” Smiling again, Gracie left them to eat.

  For about ten minutes, they ate without talking to one another. Partly because of their hunger, partly because of their lack of privacy. They were still the most exciting thing to walk into the dining hall that morning. However, each of them tried to talk to the children who approached them. Wordless in their curiosity at the new people to enter their community, not a single one replied, and it didn’t take long for a parent or guardian to come over, wince a silent apology, and drag their child back to their seat.

  William smiled at Matilda. “It’s nice to see some normal families again. To see kids being kids. I didn’t realise just how much I’ve missed that.”

  Silence swept through the room. A monster of a man entered. Much like the guard on the gate the previous evening, but older. He also stood about six feet five inches tall. Broad shouldered, his dark black hair had flecks of grey running through it. He had large features and wore a deep scowl. The guard from the previous evening followed him in. They must have been father and son.

  Militant in his approach, his son a carbon copy, the large man stopped in front of William and thrust out his hand. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Jan, Gracie’s father.”

  William’s throat dried.