by Lex Sinclair
‘It’ll break his heart to leave Smokey, though.’
Jonesy tilted his head to one side in a sharp movement. ‘Aye. Those fuckers don’t care ’bout that though. Just like my ma and all the kids at school used to make fun of me for crying all the time ’cause of my dog. Some people just don’t give a fuck. Some people used to sit around and watch me cry while laughing their cocks off. Some people just wanna watch the world burn…’
‘Are you sure about this?’
Jonesy patted Perkins on the shoulder and smiled. ‘There’s no other way… If it’s safe and those fuckers ’ave gone I’ll walk to my place and see if you’re still there – but don’t hang around any longer than a day. Sapphire is not old enough to deal with this shit yet. You wanna be as far away from the Reaper and his followers if you’re gonna ’ave any chance of getting through this.’
Perkins reciprocated the gesture and patted Jonesy back. Then with Jonesy’s help, Perkins got to his feet. ‘Guess me and the kid better start packing some stuff for our trip then.’
‘Aye. I’ll carry on loading my bitches with lead for the cock-suckers on motorcycles.’
The young reverend chuckled softly. No matter how dire and harrowing the situation you could always count of Jonesy’s cussing vernacular to sum up your thoughts and feelings…
*
Natalie retired to the room she shared with Sue, Smokey and Sapphire. She needed to be alone. Perkins had returned to the vicarage with Jonesy and announced he and Sapphire would be taking their leave.
Jonesy had kept company with Sapphire in the living room. They looked so adorable playing with Smokey. Meanwhile, Perkins explained to the three women what the plan was. Natalie protested adamantly. Nevertheless, the young man before her who had been like an adopted son firmly stated why he’d come to this conclusion.
Sue concurred once Perkins had explained and she’d considered what he said. Jane apologised, although there had been no need. If anything, her vision might have been the single most paramount aspect that saved the young boy.
What was worse for Natalie was that all this would take place right here, right now.
‘Perhaps it wasn’t a vision; it was just a nightmare,’ Jane said, weighed down with guilt.
Perkins had shaken his head. ‘No. If that was the case then all our visions wouldn’t have been accurate.’
After much debate Natalie, shaking with sudden realisation that two of the closest people she had left in this Godforsaken world would be leaving her. The likelihood that she’d never see them again bowled her down with the same impact a locomotive would have achieved. Her chest felt heavy and taut. Her breathing became strained. A mechanical hammer continuously thudded the inside of her head. This was worse than dying, she thought. This was dying a slow, agonising death.
She’d already witnessed the graphic killing of her husband, John. In the bunker when the asteroids started falling and thundering into the planet’s foundations she’d lay in a foetal ball. The pitch darkness wasn’t dark enough. She’d squeezed her eyes shut and prayed for it all to end in that instant. Instead her mind replayed the vivid memory of the mass murderer shooting John at close range and his lifeless body toppling into gravity’s relentless grip before smacking the unyielding surface.
It took Perkins days to convince her to eat something before she perished. As the months dragged on every waking moment felt like drowning. She prayed to an ignorant god to end her misery; to allow her to go wherever John had gone.
The worst kinda suffering is when the mind and heart have been broken beyond repair but the body still functions as normal, refusing to die. She’d thought that then and she thought that now.
Natalie had never considered herself religious or someone who had faith. Yet as she got to know John more and they married and shared memories together she believed in imperative matters, such as life after death, and good prevailing over evil. Now she loathed herself for being fooled into thinking that. John had been the most magnanimous and charitable person she’d ever known. And it wasn’t as if he was rich and famous with money falling out of his arse. But whatever he could do to help someone, even slightly worse off than himself, he’d bend over backwards.
The door to the bedroom was closed. However, through the walls she could hear the cries of Sapphire as Perkins evidently broke the news that they must leave.
‘I’m not leaving Smokey!’ the young boy wailed.
The cries and the wailing were knives slicing through Natalie’s mind.
Moments later there came a loud rap upon the door. Natalie spun her head to face the door behind her and opened her arms for a teary-eyed Sapphire to run into her warm embrace.
‘I don’t wanna go! I don’t wanna go!’ he cried into her sweater.
Natalie held him close, feeling the damp of his tears soak her sweater, savouring every part of the young boy’s body and soul. She shushed him and stroked his hair assuring him that everything would be all right. She hated herself for it, as there was no assurance. This was their home. They stayed here and waited for the world to get back onto its feet. Now that dream became a fantasy. Reality was a cruel ball of spikes being kicked at you too fast to duck and avoid.
‘Can’t you come, Natalie?’
Natalie was in too much shock to cry. Her mouth was parched and her tongue had attached itself to the roof of her mouth. ‘I can’t,’ she croaked.
‘Why? Why can’t we all stay here?’ Sapphire pulled his head away from her bosom and gazed at her, red-faced.
‘You’re so special that you must leave with Anthony,’ she said, realising she didn’t understand her own statement.
‘You’re special too,’ Sapphire said. ‘So you can come too… and Smokey and Sue and everyone. If the bad people come then we’ll all be safe, won’t we?’
Natalie actually concurred with the young boy to a certain degree, but as is everything in life, it was much more complicated. ‘The bad people will find us again. I and the others must stay here and persuade them to leave you be. If we can’t do that then we must tell a fib and say you’ve gone in the opposite direction so you will be safe.’
Sapphire shook his head and bunched his hands into tiny fists. ‘But if they’re after me and no one else, I could go with them and then everyone else will be safe.’
Natalie was taken aback by the self-sacrifice the young boy would be willing to take. ‘You can’t,’ she said, once she found her frail voice. ‘They’d do harm to you and hurt you. We – I – won’t allow that. But one day when you’re old enough and big and strong you can go to them and help people like me all around the world. You’ll save us from those bad people and abolish the dark for the light.’
‘What does ‘bolish’ mean?’
‘Take away forever.’
Sapphire grew quiet. His body slackened in her grip. Natalie feared he’d become comatose. Then he said in a choked voice, ‘I’m not gonna see you again, am I?’
His words of unequivocal truth were wasp stings piercing her heart.
‘You might if you get away fast and we persuade the bad people you went in the other direction.’
The troubled boy shook his head. ‘No I won’t.’
Natalie couldn’t say any more, even though she wanted to try to convince him otherwise. She pulled him close and hugged him fiercely, memorising every intricate feature and texture.
Perkins appeared in the doorway. His expression was grim and melancholic. He met Natalie’s gaze across the room. ‘It’s time…’
*
Perkins decided not to loiter and put on a farewell ceremony, for everyone’s sake. They had to get going. Also, now that they were ready for departure, Sapphire had begun his wailing again, louder this time. Jonesy had to pick him up and carry him to the van. Sapphire kicked, punched and thrashed about in hysterics. He struck Jonesy in the face a few times unintentionally. Jonesy retaliated by kissing the boy and holding him close, loving him for who he was and reacting the way he did in the na
me of love.
‘I want Smokey! I WANT SMOKEY!’
Jonesy wept, remembering his cries when his mum sold his dog for booze money. ‘Yeah, I know, good boy. I know.’
Perkins got behind the wheel, leaned over and opened the passenger door. Jonesy pulled it open all the way and hoisted Sapphire onto the seat. Tears coursed down his quivering cheeks into his stubble. ‘Apart from Anthony, you’re my best friend,’ he said, crying fully now.
‘Then why are you getting rid of me?’ Sapphire hissed back.
‘’Cause I love you and don’t wanna see you suffer.’ With that he gently ran his hand over Sapphire’s tear-stricken face. ‘I love you, buddy. Take care, okay?’
Then when Perkins strapped the boy in Jonesy slammed the door and turned away. Sue and Jane who watched also crying went to the rugged man.
Sue remembered what Perkins said when they first met Jonesy in the shooting range at the rear of the gun store. He’s a lump of sugar once you get to know him. The comment she assumed was made merely to comfort her in his acquaintance’s presence had been the most apt analogy ever. Here was this gun-wielding, cussing man who drank booze as though it were water and spat phlegm out a window, farted and belched. Yet beneath all that selfish façade there was a tender soul who seemed to transform from selfish redneck to a selfless hero.
From behind the windscreen the four humans and meowing cat watched as Perkins struggled to keep his emotions locked up and started the motor. Then the young reverend raised his head, put the transit into reverse and nodded goodbye. His mouth was set. He couldn’t face them otherwise he’d lose the strength and courage to do what had to be done.
The ones left behind watched with hearts breaking as the transit made a U-Turn and rolled down the gradient to the front gates. It came to a halt. Brake lights shone. Then the van rolled onto the highway and accelerated out of sight.
Smokey cried out. Then the ash-black cat’s head sank.
Pain wasn’t a big enough word, Jonesy thought, to describe what they were all feeling at that moment. Not a big enough word by a long shot.
*
Without further ado, Jonesy scooped Smokey up and hurried back to the vicarage. Perplexed and curious the three tear-stricken women followed. When Jonesy got into the kitchen he opened a sachet of wet food and poured biscuits into a separate dish. Then he added a saucer of clean drinking water. He stroked Smokey over and over, smoothing down his fur coat. Smokey didn’t purr as he usually did. He knew something was awry. However, he ate his food and lapped up the water.
‘What’re we gonna do?’ Jane shrieked.
‘I’m going to the bunker to get some of my guns,’ Jonesy said, matter-of-factly. ‘I want you four to stay down there. Lock the doors. If all goes well, I’ll come to the bunker and knock three times. When you hear this – not once or twice, but three times – you approach the lock door. I’ll be able to hear your footsteps on my side of the door on the steps. I’ll speak to you. Then you’ll know it’s me and not some kinda trick.’
‘What if it doesn’t go to plan?’ Sue asked.
‘Don’t be a hero – or heroin. Stay where you are. It’s unlikely they’ll find the bunker, but if they do and you know it isn’t me for sure, use those concrete lintels we used for asteroids and prop them against the doors and head for the other exit.’
‘Don’t you think it’d be best if we were topside with you?’ Natalie said. ‘The more of us working together the better.’
‘The more of us together facing those demons, the more of us likely to get hurt.’
The three women understood with full clarity then the seriousness of their situation. With Perkins and Sapphire gone this felt less like a dream or vision and more tangible by the second.
‘What about Smokey?’ Natalie asked.
Smokey raised his head from the bowl, regarding her at the mention of his name.
‘Take him with you. Take some food and water. There are some guns and ammo down there. You know the basics. If – or when – they come, only then take the safety off. The .45s, .38s and revolvers are al loaded. There’s a double-barrel shotgun with six shells in the cartridge too. Don’t touch them till you need to; that’s when accidents occur. Stay quiet. Whatever you hear up here, take no notice. And I mean anything. You hear me for whatever reason and give away your position just to save me, I’ll be really fuckin’ pissed off with you.’
‘Why’d you have to stay up here when Anthony and Sapphire are at this moment driving hell-bent away from here and we’ve gotta hide in the bunker?’ Natalie wanted to know.
‘Someone’s gotta stay here to try and convince these fuckers that no one else is here. If they ask that, I’ll just say there was still some food left in the fridge and disagreed with leaving and decided to stay.’
The women concurred that did sound rather plausible.
‘Also, I’ll tell them as the vicarage and church are still standing I didn’t want to risk not having a safe place with a roof over my head.’
Once Smokey finished his meal, the three women carried some fruit and bread they’d grown and made themselves. Jonesy brought up the rear. He walked backwards, scanning the cemetery, wielding his rifle.
When they arrived at the rear of the church and unlocked the door, Natalie flicked the torchlight on. Jonesy propped the rifle against the stone wall and patted Jane on the back. When she entered the underground chamber and disappeared down the narrow pathway he repeated the cordial gesture to Sue who turned to him then. ‘Whatever happens – or doesn’t happen – I just wanted you to know it’s been a pleasure getting to know you in the short time we’ve been in each other’s company.’
Touched by her kind words, Jonesy extended his hand. ‘Whatever happens, Sue, thank you for coming to my gun store when you did. I never got to tell Perkins this, so I’ll tell you: you saved me. Resurrected me. I’ll always be in your debt.’
Sue shook her head. ‘Not any more. And it was our pleasure bringing you here with us…’ She gazed at him longingly. Then she said, ‘It’s the lump of sugar in you that gives you your incredible strength to endure.’
Then she was gone.
Natalie kissed Jonesy on the cheek before he knew what had happened. ‘Thank you,’ she said.
‘Remember, Natalie. Three knocks. Three hard knocks. Approach the door. Be wary that it might be a trick and wait till you hear my voice.’
‘I will.’
‘Use those concrete lintels as well,’ Jonesy reminded her.
‘See you soon, huh?’
Jonesy smiled. ‘I hope…’
29.
JONESY WAITED on the stone steps, listening to Natalie lock the door and then prop the lintels against it for reinforcement. Only then did he turn away and go down the path towards the vicarage.
His heart had broken along with everyone else’s during the sudden departure. However, rage was the emotion that had taken full dominance now – rage at what the sinister beings planned as they neared this sanctuary that had belonged to his dear friends for so long during the aftermath.
He returned to the vicarage only to gather his Remington shotgun and Glock. Then he waited with guns loaded, watching the desolate highway.
Jonesy had no idea how much time passed when he heard the sound of hundreds of loud horsepower motorcycle engines getting louder still as they grew nearer.
Grabbing his rifle, Jonesy leapt down off the doorstep and onto the gravel path. He sprinted to the asphalt parking area approximately ten feet higher than the road level. Getting into a comfortable position on his stomach, Jonesy stared down the sight of the gun, released the safety catch and rested his index finger on the trigger. Then he focused on keeping his breathing rate stable and controlled the quakes assailing his anatomy.
When the leading bike came into view, Jonesy flinched. He cussed under his breath and watched the rippling, fluxing faces of shapes the size of men change from humans to shiny metallic skulls. He shook away his perturbed emotions and re
focused.
The first shot bucked his shoulder, and for a moment Jonesy thought he’d missed. However, in the near distance, he saw the whatever-he-was jolt back by an invisible blow and topple backwards off the motorcycle. The creature hit the tarmac head first and rolled over before being rendered motionless.
The other demons hit the brakes. Tyres screeched. Blue engine smoke curled upwards. And the road was lined with rubber skid-marks.
Jonesy watched from his camouflaged position in the tall grass as the confusion of what had transpired hit home for the demons. The other two spun their bikes around and rode to where their comrade had unexpectedly fallen.
Seizing the opportunity to strike them when their backs were turned, Jonesy stared down the sights and fired another shot. This one smacked one of the two demons, who’d dismounted and had been standing, off his feet. He flew two feet in the air before striking the road face-first with an audible slap.
Fixed with unbreakable concentration, Jonesy shifted the sights to the last demon standing. The demon whirled around and faced the direction of the gunshot but couldn’t see anything. Jonesy squeezed the trigger and watched with jubilation as the bullet struck the demon in the chest. The demon flew back, bashing his head against the unforgiving road surface.
The first demon he’d shot stirred and rolled onto its hands and knees. Jonesy fired again and guffawed as the bullet punctured the demon’s black jeans right into its arse. He covered his mouth, laughing hard at the cry of pain as the demon clutched its butt cheek.
‘Take that you fuckers,’ he murmured.
Perkins and Sapph would’ve liked that one, I bet.
