Solace Within

by Gavin Zanker

  ‘Wait here, boy,’ he said, kneeling beside Hitch. ‘Keep watch and make some noise if you see anyone. I won’t be long.’

  Hitch licked his palm then sat by the door as Aiden crept into the house with his weapon in hand. Inside, he found himself in a corridor with stained walls, the smell of damp mould rising from the splintered floorboards. A few doorways led off the corridor into other rooms, most missing their doors, and a staircase led up to the second floor.

  Aiden stalked deeper into the house, spreading his weight to avoid the broken floorboards creaking. He peered around the first doorway into a living room. It was cluttered with junk and tattered furniture. A framed portrait hung over a cracked glass aquarium, another red snake logo sprayed over the face. As Aiden turned away, a hiss came from the room, and he looked back to see a small green snake slither out from under a cabinet, its forked tongue flicking out as it glided across the floor.

  Aiden ignored it and continued along the corridor, passing more empty rooms. As he neared a door left ajar, he heard two distinct voices arguing on the other side. Peering through the gap, he caught a glimpse of a figure moving around a table.

  ‘But why do you get the shiny, Stonewall?’ a shrill voice demanded. ‘We were all there, we should all get a piece.’

  ‘Because when Val’s not here, I’m in charge,’ another voice said, much deeper than the first. ‘And that means I get to pick whatever I want. Besides, I’m the one that found the camp.’

  ‘Well I still think we should’ve at least set an ambush. We could’ve come back with enough food for a week.’

  ‘Look, Mouse, if you want to go try your luck, then feel free to step up to me.’ An intense silence filled the room. ‘That’s what I thought. Now stop your whining.’

  ‘I’m tired of you two idiots bickering,’ a female voice said. ‘I’m going out back to get some wood for the fire. There’re too many drafts in this sodding house.’

  A door opened and closed as someone stepped outside. Aiden heard more clattering as things were tossed around on the table.

  ‘I’m starving,’ the one called Mouse said, his shrill voice cracking slightly as he spoke. ‘What about the waif, can’t we eat her?’

  ‘Not enough meat. Plus she’s Val’s pet, and you know what she’d do to you if she caught you up there.’

  ‘When will Val be back with the hunting party?’ Mouse whined. ‘Soon right? You reckon she’ll bring food with her?’

  ‘She’s not a useless cripple like you, so I expect so.’

  ‘What about some Echo then, at least let me have a hit to take the edge off.’

  ‘If you touch my stash, Mouse, I swear I’ll lock you in one of the aquariums with the snakes again.’

  Aiden had heard enough. He swung the door open and strode inside, pistol raised. Scanning the corners, he found himself in a grimy kitchen with a cracked tile floor. Empty cupboards lined the walls, all missing their fronts. The two men standing at the table froze. One had a facial twitch and held his twisted arm, while the other was a barrel-shaped man with a heavy-set jaw and tattoos inked across his broad nose.

  ‘Who might you be?’ the tattooed one asked.

  ‘You took some things that don’t belong to you,’ Aiden said, nodding towards his gear scattered across the table.

  ‘Ah, you must be the one from the camp.’ The man’s tattoo creased as he grinned. ‘Welcome to Red Hill, or Red Hell as I like to call it. I’m Stonewall, this here is Mouse. Why don’t you stay for supper?’ Stonewall licked his bottom lip slowly as he looked Aiden up and down. ‘I’m sure we can sort out this little misunderstanding.’

  ‘I’m not looking for trouble,’ Aiden said, his voice low. ‘I’ll just be taking my equipment back and leaving.’

  ‘It’s like that then?’ Stonewall said. ‘See here’s the problem. This is our stuff now, and you’re in our house. That means you don’t leave until we say so. So you may as well pull up a chair, because you’re not going anywhere.’

  ‘I’m not staying,’ Aiden said, staring at Stonewall over the barrel of his pistol, ‘and I don’t see anyone that can stop me from dropping you right here.’

  Stonewall laughed nervously, no humour in the sound, as a bead of sweat stood out on his forehead. The cripple looked back and forth, fidgeting from foot to foot as he clutched his arm in the tense silence.

  His gaze flicked past Aiden to the corridor.

  Aiden caught the movement and spun around, dropping to his knee as he saw a dark skinned woman creeping up behind him with a golf club in hand. She must have looped around the house to try and get the jump on him. She paused as she saw the pistol pointed at her. Then she snarled, raised the golf club above her head in a double handed grip and charged. Aiden squeezed the trigger, and the woman toppled forwards as the bullet entered her forehead.

  Turning back to the kitchen, Aiden saw the wide-eyed cripple struggling to draw the junk pistol in his belt. Aiden fired twice at the man’s chest, causing him to slump to the tiles.

  Stonewall flipped the table and dived behind it. ‘Can’t we talk about this?’ he called out as Aiden heard the sound of a weapon being loaded behind the table.

  Aiden ducked back behind the kitchen doorway as a deafening shotgun blast slammed into the wall. He blind fired a few rounds from his pistol around the corner, the bullets striking the wooden table. When he heard a grunt of pain, he darted into the room, skirting around the table with his pistol levelled.

  Stonewall lay on his back, one hand pressed against the crimson that spread across his chest while the other flailed weakly for a sawn-off shotgun that had fallen just out of reach. Aiden stepped forward, kicking the firearm and sending it skittering across the broken tiles. He spotted his blanket which had fallen to the floor, and picked it up before blood seeped onto the fabric.

  ‘You shot me… for a blanket?’ Stonewall said, his voice coming in sharp gasps.

  Aiden looked at his blanket then back to the man. ‘I like this blanket,’ he said, aiming his pistol down.

  ‘Wait, please-’

  ‘Too late,’ Aiden said coldly, ‘you had your chance.’

  The bullet took Stonewall between the eyes. He slumped back, lying motionless as blood pooled around his body.

  Aiden turned away and collected his belongings which now lay strewn across the floor. Everything was there, even the rabbit he had caught and roasted the previous day was untouched. As he finished stashing it all back into his pack, a glint of light caught his eye from across the room. Taking a closer look, he found a stack of CDs strewn over the kitchen counter. Most had been used as ashtrays, cigarette butts still sticking out of the burned plastic, but there looked to be a handful that might still be in working condition. Knowing someone who would appreciate them, he dropped them into his pack quickly. Stonewall had mentioned others would be returning soon and he didn’t want to push his luck by hanging around.

  Aiden made his way back along the corridor, stepping over the lifeless body, and came to the front door. As his hand touched the doorknob, he heard a muffled voice cry out from upstairs. Turning his head to try and make it out, he realised the sound was someone shouting for help. He paused for a second, then cursed and rushed up the stairs.

  He searched through the upstairs rooms, all of which were in a similar state, grime-covered and full of broken furniture. As he came to a bedroom filled with more aquariums, he found a locked door in the back with someone frantically banging against it from the other side.

  ‘Stand back,’ Aiden shouted.

  He planted his foot just above the lock with all of his weight and the door’s rusted hinges snapped. With a second kick it fell into the room beyond. Inside was a young girl, no more than twelve or thirteen, shielding her face with her skinny arms as she stood in the corner. She wore ripped jeans and a faded purple t-shirt. As she raised her head, her chin length black hair fell away from her face to reveal a dark bruise dominating her cheek and a nostril crusted with blood.

 
; The room was small, probably built as a closet. With the locks on the outside and the only light coming from a missing brick in the wall, its purpose was obviously a cell. The only features were a stained mattress in the corner and a some assorted junk lined up in a neat row beside it.

  ‘Are you going to kill me?’ the girl asked, her tone defiant.

  ‘No I’m not going to kill you,’ Aiden said, shaking his head. He stepped forward and passed her an old cloth from his pocket. ‘It’s clear downstairs, but it won’t be for long. You can get away if you start running now.’

  The girl took the cloth and looked Aiden up and down, noting the pistol in his hand. ‘If you’re not going to kill me, can I come with you?’

  ‘No,’ Aiden said, already turning away.

  The girl wiped her nose and ran after him. ‘I don’t have anywhere else to go,’ she pleaded. ‘Please let me come?’

  ‘I already saved you. I don’t owe you anything,’ Aiden said, not breaking stride as he descended the stairs. ‘You’re on your own now. Do the smart thing and run.’

  As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he heard Hitch barking outside. He swung open the front door to see a group of ten or so people emerging from the treeline at the base of the hill, all armed with vicious looking weapons: spiked bats, metal saw-blades, and scrap-metal axes. Leading them was a lanky woman who walked with the swaggering gait of a man.

  ‘It’s Val,’ the girl hissed from behind Aiden, fear in her voice.

  Whistling Hitch inside the house, Aiden closed the front door and flicked the lock to stall them. Then he turned and sprinted through to the rear of the building with Hitch bounding at his heel. As he ran, he caught a glimpse of the girl leaping down the last few stairs to chase after him.

  DESPITE AIDEN MOVING at a quick jog through the trees and going out of his way to avoid any trails, the girl had managed to keep pace with him for the last ten minutes. He stopped and turned, seeing her red-faced and breathing hard a few paces behind him.

  ‘Stop following me,’ he told her.

  Hitch padded over to her, sniffing around her feet. She shrank back a little, but made no attempt to leave. Aiden ignored her and carried on his way, slowing to a walk now he had gained some distance from the house. His plan to make it to Kiln Commons before nightfall wouldn’t be possible now thanks to Stonewall and his thieving friends. Now Aiden would have to postpone his meeting with Kendal until the morning.

  A stick cracked behind him. He turned to see the stubborn girl still following.

  ‘I told you to go away,’ he said, his volume rising with his irritation.

  ‘I have nowhere to go, mister’ she said, eyeing him warily. ‘You don’t look like a psycho, can’t I come with you?’

  Aiden studied the scrawny girl in ragged clothes. She pushed the mass of tangled black hair away from her face, and he caught sight of old bruises on her arms.

  ‘What about your parents?’ he asked. ‘Some family you can go find?’

  She looked down as she shuffled her feet.

  Aiden sighed and rubbed his face. ‘Okay fine,’ he said. The girl looked up, her face brightening. ‘As long as you keep up and do as you’re told, you can travel with me until we get to Kiln Commons. But then you’re on your own. Understood?’

  ‘Sure, sounds good,’ she said as she skipped up alongside him. ‘I knew you were a good guy, I could see it in your eyes. You’re quite tall aren’t you? My name’s Leigh by the way, what’s yours?’

  ‘Aiden.’

  ‘What about her?’ Leigh asked, watching Hitch loping through some long grass nearby.

  ‘It’s a him, and his name is Hitch.’

  ‘He seems friendly, does he bite?’

  ‘Only little girls that keep asking questions.’

  Leigh looked up at Aiden’s stony expression, quickly breaking into a smile as she worked out he was joking. ‘I like his fur,’ she said. ‘I haven’t seen many dogs like that, all black and white.’

  ‘No, most people can’t justify another mouth to feed.’

  ‘I like the friendly ones. No matter how bad your day is, they’re always so happy to see you. Thanks for not leaving me behind there.’

  ‘No problem. Now keep the noise down so you don’t draw any unwanted attention this way.’

  ‘Sorry, everyone tells me I talk too much. It always made Val angry.’

  Aiden noticed Leigh withdraw at the mention of Val. Though he preferred silence, this one was far from comfortable. Unsure what to say, he unshouldered his pack and pulled out the roasted rabbit wrapped in faded newspaper.

  ‘Here, you look hungry,’ he said, spearing a piece with his knife and holding it out to the skinny girl.

  ‘Thanks,’ she said, staring at the meat in her hand. ‘Wait, what do you want for it?’ she asked with a frown.

  ‘Nothing. I’m giving it to you.’

  Her gaze lingered on his face for a moment, then she shrugged and crammed the food into her mouth. Aiden whistled softly and Hitch stepped forward, sniffing excitedly at the meat. Aiden cut off another piece and held it out for the dog who took it gently before swallowing the morsel whole.

  In the distance, Aiden heard the revving of bike engines. ‘Come on,’ he said, wiping his knife and sheathing it. ‘We need to keep moving.’

  They continued walking, the woods soon turning to rocky moorlands filled with heather. The sun was dropping towards the horizon now, and the temperature along with it. Aiden noticed the girl starting to shiver as she walked with her arms folded tightly.

  ‘We won’t make it to town before nightfall,’ he told her. ‘We’ll set up camp and head in during the morning instead.’

  He spotted a small brook and followed it into a cluster of pine trees that would serve as cover for the night. The water trickled peacefully here as it splashed over the slate rock. Hitch stretched himself out, then lay down to watch the bubbling water.

  Aiden went to pull the tarpaulin from his pack to rig up a shelter, then remembered it had been slashed to pieces. Instead, he lashed one end of a thick branch to a trunk as a support and set about laying fallen branches from the pine trees against it to created a crude A-frame.

  ‘I need to go,’ Leigh said as Aiden worked on the shelter.

  ‘Well, it was nice knowing you,’ he said.

  Leigh looked at him blankly as she squeezed her legs together. ‘No… I need to go.’

  ‘Well, just go find a bush,’ he said, unsure why she was telling him.

  ‘Can I borrow your light? It’s getting dark.’

  ‘No lights, people will see it for miles. It doesn’t work anyway.’

  She peered into the trees miserably, then shuffled away through the foliage. She reappeared a few minutes later and perched on a rock near to Aiden as he finished piling layers of fern leaves on to the shelter to create a roof cover. It probably wouldn’t hold in a downpour, but it would keep out the worst of the elements for the night. Inside, Hitch was already curled up on a carpet of heather and snoring gently. Aiden took a seat on a fallen log and laid out his pistol and knife.

  ‘Can we make a fire?’ Leigh asked, hugging herself tightly and rocking back and forth as she watched him clean his weapons with an oily rag.

  ‘I told you no light. It’s too dangerous this close to town.’ Aiden reached in to his pack and pulled out the softshell jacket he had found in the bunker. ‘Here,’ he said tossing it to her. ‘Wear this, it should keep you warm.’

  It slipped through her grip and fell to the ground. She mumbled thanks as she picked it up. Her t-shirt rode up slightly as she pulled the jacket over her head, revealing a raised scar on her back. Now wrapped up in the comically oversized jacket, she moved over to the stream and reached down to start cupping water to her mouth.

  ‘Don’t do that,’ Aiden said.

  ‘Why?’ she asked, stopping and turning to him. ‘I’m thirsty.’

  ‘Because it could make you sick.’

  ‘It looks clean.’

>   ‘It probably does, but there could be a dead animal lying in the water just upstream. You want parasites?’ She looked at him in bewilderment. ‘You need to boil it before you can drink it,’ he told her.

  ‘How do I boil it though? You said no fires,’ she said shaking the water from her hand.

  ‘Here.’ Aiden pulled out his canteen and handed it to her.

  Leigh unscrewed the cap and took a few deep swallows of the clean water before handing it back. With his gear clean, Aiden sheathed his knife and unrolled his blanket over the heather inside the shelter. Satisfied he was insulated from the heat-sapping ground, he lay down beside Hitch using his pack as a pillow. He kept his pistol in hand, held across his chest. A gust of wind rustled the leaves of the nearby trees and an owl hooted somewhere in the dark branches above.

  ‘They killed my parents,’ Leigh said, hugging her legs as she sat on the stone.

  It took Aiden a second to realise she was talking to him. ‘You mean Stonewall?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m not sure who. Val and some men appeared on our farm one day with guns and took us back to that house. They kept us locked up in a room. First they took my dad away, and my mum cried all the time because he never came back. Then a few days later they took her. After a while I couldn’t hear her crying anymore. Then it was just me.’

  ‘That’s a rough deal,’ Aiden said taking a breath and closing his eyes, feeling the ache of his tired muscles after the rushing adrenaline earlier.

  ‘For a while they laughed and had this look in their eye whenever they gave me food. But I’m not stupid. I never ate it. Eventually Val started bringing me potatoes instead.’

  ‘Smart move. The world is a cruel place, and you learned that earlier than most.’ Aiden raised his head and squinted at her. ‘How old are you anyway?’

  Leigh shrugged. ‘I dunno.’

  ‘Your parents didn’t tell you?’

  ‘They didn’t tell me much. Mum used to get angry all the time, especially when I asked questions. She used to pinch and hurt me a lot until dad stopped her.’