by RR Haywood
‘We’re all holding weapons,’ Nick says.
‘Clarence can hold his one handed all day long,’ I whisper back, ‘Clarence…make sure Meredith is okay.’
‘Got her,’ he pants, ‘she’s under my arm.’
‘Is she letting you carry her?’
‘Sort of…’ he says but the panic is voice is less than it was a few seconds ago.
‘I bet she was aiming for you,’ I say, ‘like she knows who the strongest is to carry her.’
‘Maybe.’
‘We’re not going to die here…’
‘Mr Howie…’
‘Dave? You alright?’
‘I can’t swim…I’m on the tips of my toes.’
‘Ditch the rifle and pistol and come back to me.’
‘We should not discard our weapons.’
‘Okay, keep hold of them then but come back…hang on, let me turn round and get on my back.’
‘Mr Howie,’ Nick says, ‘I’m taller than you, I can take Dave.’
‘He’s here,’ I feel as Dave pushes up and onto my back and holds his assault rifle and pistol one handed with the other one wrapped round my shoulders.
‘We get into some fucked up shit,’ Cookey laughs suddenly, ‘I mean…fucking hell!’
Ripples of nervous laughter along the line.
‘Clarence is carrying a dog, Mr Howie is carrying a Dave…we’re all carrying guns and Paula has a nipple poking out meanwhile Roy wants to be somewhere he can worry so he doesn't have to worry about not worrying.’
Giggles that threaten to spill over into hysteria but it helps the nerves frayed almost to breaking point.
‘I mean…shit,’ Cookey yells first as the wave lifts him from his feet. It sweeps along from behind and the swell takes us all up and under water for a second before easing us back down.
Panicked gasps cry out, spluttering and coughs as we gag on the salt water in our mouths.
‘What the fuck?’ I heave the words out between breaths.
‘Tunnel’s collapsed behind us,’ Nick says, ‘Roy…we’ve got to move…’
‘Brace!’ Roy’s voice is cut off by the wave coming back towards us and again we’re lifted up and submerged as the wave sweeps back the other way.
The weapons are ditched and it becomes a desperate fight to stay alive. Water stings my redundant eyes and the sounds around me make the whole thing much worse. Crying and sobs, pants of fear and gasps as the waves lift us to scrape our head on the roof then ease away. They come from behind then a few seconds later from the front.
‘It’s good,’ Nick splutters, ‘waves coming back…means…’ he splutters and gags for a second before vomiting into the sea, ‘means we’re near the end…go…’
‘It’s getting deeper,’ Cookey says in a voice I don’t recognise for the level of panic in his tone.
Up now and off my feet, arms spread out to feel the crumbling walls and I drop down to bounce forward and surge up to take breath. Dave is heavy, almost too heavy but I can tell from the strength with which he clamps on just how scared he is.
Gagging and puking, gasps of air and the finality hits me. We’ve got inches of space left above our heads now and no hope to sustain this any longer.
‘Keep going,’ Nick sputters, ‘got to be close.’
‘Paula!’ Clarence heaves the gagging woman up one handed while holding the dog afloat, ‘kick,’ he says, ‘kick your legs and move…’ the strain in his voice and the strength of the man being able to hold Meredith and Paula is staggering.
‘Not going to die…not going to die…’ My head impacts on the roof as I surge up and off my feet, stars flash in my eyes which seem so bright from the illusion created by my mind.
The strength in me saps, draining with every second and I take what breaths I can when the waves go down but the constant motion is sickening and my senses start shutting down.
‘Wall!’ the words from someone ahead sound out. Only Roy ahead of me. A wall. A hand thrashes in front of me and suddenly Dave is gone, his weight removed.
‘Dave…Dave’s gone…’ I thrash about trying to feel for his body as I sink back under the waves.
‘Got him,’ Roy gags and spits, ‘here…HERE…’ a hand finds my arm and drags me forward until I feel a solid wall. Somehow in my panicked state I find a metal rung embedded in the wall and cling on.
‘Take Paula,’ Clarence gurgles and I reach out to grab the woman and pull her in towards the ladder.
‘Up,’ single words are all any of us can manage. The space above me is free and I climb on shaking hands and legs, shivering from head to toe as the puke falls from my mouth.
‘Stuck,’ Roy heaves against the hatch that must be above his head, ‘jammed…’ grunts of exertion and bangs as he slams himself against it.
‘Me,’ Clarence pushes forward with his big frame and finds a rung.
‘Let me down,’ Roy says.’
‘Together,’ Clarence squeezes up alongside the archer.
‘Here, it’s here.’
In the darkness I listen as the lads reach the ladder and we all grab a rung, grab each other and help hold Meredith above the water. The waves slosh harder and faster but with Clarence and Roy above us there is no space to climb.
‘On three…’ Clarence grunts, ‘one…two…THREE.’ An almighty explosion of energy and the rung under Roy’s feet screeches and buckles. A grinding noise and the sustained roar of Clarence heaving with every ounce of his strength as he pushes the hatch open.
Light spills in, silvery and dull but after the pitch dark it’s a beauty to behold. I don’t know who gets out first but I feel a hand gripping me and helping me up. I turn I grasp Paula who holds the dog by her neck as the lads push Meredith from underneath.
We disgorge dripping, panting and puking onto a rough concrete floor and crawl away from the hatch as though scared we’ll get sucked back down. Meredith runs to each of us, stopping to shake every few seconds. Rough licks from her tongue and she gives low whines before flopping down to rest.
‘Everyone alive?’ I lift my head and count the bodies lying flat out before I flop back down and stare up through the high windows to the beautiful moon and stars high in the sky.
Fourteen
The pure fury coursing through her veins eases back as the true facts of the situation present unravel. Howie gone from a set of rooms with only one entrance that was being watched the entire time.
Lani wants to look for herself but can’t risk leaving the crews without constant observation and not one of the terrified survivors moved forward when she called for assistance.
She has control but what now?
‘I can’t see anything in there,’ Lilly steps close to Lani and whispers with a low voice, ‘I’ll need a torch and two hands but this grenade…’
‘Throw it over the wall.’
‘I might miss, what if it bounces back down?’
‘Go out the front then, throw it into the sea.’
‘You’ll be okay here?’
Lani nods and thinks, the sullen expression etched on her face is masked by the dim light and deep shadows.
How many did she kill? One outside the hospital, another was running, wasn’t there someone on top of the walls? And Darius. She bites her bottom lip at the thought of the death brought by her hands. Control was needed though. Instant compliance to gain control and ensure the safety of Howie and the rest.
She thinks and watches the crews, using a torch found on the ground to sweep over the young petrified and sulky looking faces. Some look down with wet cheeks, others stare back with utter hatred in their eyes
A dull thud booms into the night as the grenade detonates safely in the sea. Thrown by Lilly without any thought of the tunnel running under her feet and the percussion effect of the energy displacement on the old bricks and mortar.
She walks back inside flexing her right hand open and closed with relief from finally being rid of the heavy object.
‘Done,’ she looks to Lan
i then back at the supplicated youths crammed together, ‘what now?’
‘We need to search the inside of the rooms and find out how they got out…wait,’ she says quickly as Lilly goes to head inside. Holding the torch she once again sweeps the beam from face to face, ‘where’s Jagger and Mo Mo?’
‘I haven’t seen them,’ Lilly steps towards the kneeling children to scan the faces.
‘Lenski, where’s Jagger and Mo Mo?’ Lani holds the beam on the Polish woman.
‘Offices.’
‘Lilly, go check…take a weapon with you. Do you know how to fire one?’
‘Nick showed me how to shoot a pistol.’
‘Take one with you, make sure the safety is off and don’t hesitate to shoot if they turn on you.’
‘Okay,’ Lilly darts into the opening of the armoury and the pile of weapons dropped there, coming back out with a pistol held in both hands like Nick showed her.
She runs down the inside of the wall and pauses at the doorway, feeling stupid and somewhat self-conscious she peers through and into the lantern illuminated interior, pistol held low.
‘Mo Mo?’ She half whispers half shouts then steps inside, ‘Mo Mo? Jagger?’
Nothing here. She creeps through the room checking under the table and heads to the doorway at the back which she cracks open and stops again, ‘Mo Mo?’ She calls out louder this time and hears a muffled voice shouting then a solid bang against the door at the far end.
She checks each side room going down, the pistol held ready until she reaches the bottom door, ‘Mo Mo? Are you in there?’
‘Who’s that? Tell Maddox I’m gonna fuckin’ kill him,’ Mo Mo’s voice seethes through the door, ‘has he hurt Mr Howie?’
‘Stand back from the door, I’ll open it.’
‘Who is that?’
‘Lilly, it’s Lilly…are you armed?’
‘Armed? Fuckin’ wouldn’t be stuffed in here if we was armed…what the fuck is going on? Where’s Maddox?’
‘Please stand back from the door,’ Lilly asks politely, ‘I have a gun and I need to see you before you can come out.’
‘Lilly, it’s Jagger…you on your own?’
‘You have to stand back from the door,’ Lilly says urgently.
‘Okay, okay we’re back,’ she frowns, unable to tell the voices apart but picking up the greater distance.
The key in the lock and she flicks it over before stepping back with the pistol up and aimed, ‘okay…open the door…but do not do anything…’
‘Take it easy,’ one of the voices says. The handle creaks down, the door cracks and swings in as Mo Mo and Jagger show themselves with arms raised.
‘Are you alone?’ Mo Mo mouths the words to Lilly, ‘where’s Maddox?’
‘What happened to you earlier?’ Lilly asks.
‘Maddox got us out at gunpoint…the fuckin’ prick held a pistol to my head.’
‘Darius did me,’ Jagger says angrily, ‘what the fuck is going on? We’ve been in here for hours.’
‘Come out,’ Lilly says, ‘but move slowly.’
‘No way,’ Mo Mo shakes his head as he places a hand on Jaggers arm to prevent him moving, ‘you tell that cunt he can come in here if he wants to kill us.’
‘Who?’
‘Maddox…fucking coward…MADDOX? YOU THERE?’ Mo Mo’s voice booms loud and frighteningly sudden.
‘He said Lani was infected,’ Jagger says, ‘but she ain’t…we saw her on the way back and she ain’t infected…he said Howie and them’s are infected but they ain’t…’
‘I know,’ Lilly says quietly.
‘What’s Maddox doing, Lilly?’ Mo Mo asks, ‘why’s he doing it them?’
‘Come out,’ Lilly beckons them forward, ‘but please go slowly.’
‘We ain’t coming out,’ Mo Mo says firmly.
‘Things have happened,’ Lilly says.
‘What things?’ Mo Mo asks quickly, ‘Lilly…what things? Is Howie and that lot okay? What about Lani? She okay?’
‘I er…’ Lilly hesitates, knowing Mo Mo and Jagger were working with Howie but they were originally with Maddox, how can she tell where their loyalties lie.
‘Please,’ she pleads, ‘just come out and speak to Lani.’
‘Lani?’ Mo Mo and Jagger spare a glance at each other, ‘where is she?’ That gets them moving as they head down the corridor and into the main room.
‘Where is everyone?’ Mo Mo looks round at the vacated room, ‘where’s Lani?’
‘Outside,’ Lilly says.
‘Is this a trap?’ Jagger asks.
‘Which side are you on?’ Lilly asks the question outright.
‘Side? What side?’ Mo Mo asks, ‘what you on about?’
‘Howie and Maddox?’ Jagger nods, ‘we’re with Howie. Maddox is a dirty cunt…’
‘Mo Mo?’
‘Howie,’ he nods, ‘and fuck you if you shoot us for it…and you tell that coward we died calling him out.’
‘Come outside but please, please move slowly and don’t shout or do anything.’
They both stare in confusion but follow the plaintive pleads as Lilly backs up through the room to the main door and out into the fort.
‘Fuck,’ Mo Mo gasps at the sight before them, ‘Lani? That you?’
‘Here,’ she says, ‘what happened to you?’
‘Maddox forced us out at gunpoint,’ Mo Mo says as they head towards Lani, ‘had a hand over our mouths and pistol shoved in my fuckin’ ear…Darius did the same to Jagger.’
Lani hesitates for a second as the two lads walk over. They were there, in the munitions factory and they fought like demons to protect Howie. They were part of the team and sometimes a chance has to be taken.
‘You with me?’ Lani asks quickly, ‘or with them?’
‘Mr Howie,’ Mo Mo says without hesitation, ‘we’re with him…where is he?’
‘Grab a weapon from the armoury,’ she nods to the doorway knowing this is the point of risk. The two lads run inside and she listens to the all familiar sounds of magazines being taken out, checked and put back in before bolts are pulled back and the guns made ready.
‘Did you know you got your bra and pants on?’ Mo Mo asks as he steps beside her and holds his weapon at the ready pointed towards the crews.
‘Yep.’
‘Awesome,’ Jagger joins her other side and suddenly the one is a three and the lines are drawn.
‘Is that Darius?’ Mo Mo asks with a nod to the mangled remains a few metres away.
‘Yep. Shot him.’
‘You missed out, Jagger.’
‘Fuck him, dead is dead,’ Jagger spits to the side, ‘where’s Mads?’
‘Over there somewhere,’ Lani nods towards the middle, ‘I tazered him…like eight or nine times.’
‘Fuck,’ Jagger lifts his eyebrows, ‘you alright then?’
‘I am now,’ she says and allows a brief smile at the two lads, ‘thank fuck you’re on our side.’
‘Always,’ Mo Mo says, ‘now what the fuck is going on?’
Lilly blinks in awe at the sight. Lani taking utter control of the fort in seconds. No hesitation, no pause, no bargaining. Pure ruthless action that displayed a readiness to do what was needed. The risk she took and the calmness in doing it by trusting Mo Mo and Jagger. But the bond is clear, an almost tangible thing between them. The way they stand with legs planted. The way they hold their weapons and the way they watch, always watching, always scanning.
Jagger and Mo Mo must be the same age as her and a day or two ago they were just kids but now, now they’ve grown and have the manner of men. That’s Mr Howie’s team, right there. The bond and the manner of unspoken loyalty between them and in those few seconds she knows she did the right thing.
Lani brings them up to speed with clipped sentences that convey the bare facts. The lads nod and listen but watch the crews ranged out in front of them.
‘Got to be a way out innit,’ Mo Mo says, ‘Jagger, you go with Lilly and c
heck…I’ll stay here with Lani.’
‘On it,’ Jagger emulates the affirmative response given by Blowers, Cookey and Nick as he heads inside with a nod to Lilly to follow him.
‘I can’t believe he did it,’ Mo Mo shakes his head, ‘not like that…fuckin’ bang out of order, you get me?’
‘I do.’
‘I don’t wanna be part of anything they were,’ Mo Mo says with hard glares at his former friends, ‘you lot disgust me…Mr Howie gave us this place…you’s got no idea what he’s done for you.’
‘What’s gonna happen, Mo Mo?’ A girl asks quietly.
‘Tasha? That you? What the fuck? I mean…what the fuck? Maddox said you’s got to tell him if he does the wrong thing…he said that…we all heard it…all the crew chiefs…’
‘He no do the wrong thing,’ Lenski speaks out in furious voice, ‘she shoot Darius…she shoot children.’
‘Not children,’ Mo Mo shakes his head, ‘armed guards…you get me? You threatened them first…they just brought the fight back to you and showed you up for the fools you are. You’s lot are trying to be like the feds all dressed in black…you waited till they were asleep and got me and Jagger out by gunpoint! Fucking gunpoint…’
‘Mo Mo, you gotta see this,’ Jagger rushes from the armoury.
‘Go on,’ Lani nods for him to go, ‘everyone stay quiet now.’
‘What?’ Mo Mo asks following Jagger through the main room and into a side room.
‘Trap door innit,’ Jagger says excitedly. Mo Mo stares down at the now clear lines in the hatch back in place in the concrete floor.
‘Try and open it,’ Lilly says, holding the torch while the two lads get their fingertips into the edge and start prising it up.
‘Flooded,’ Mo Mo stares down at the sloshing water still animated from pouring into the breached roof further in the tunnel, ‘but they went that way.’
‘So they’s gone then,’ Jagger says, ‘you reckon they got out?’
‘Fuckin’ hope so,’ Mo Mo says standing up.
A minute later and while Jagger and Mo Mo keep watch, Lani is shown the trapdoor and the still rising water within by Lilly holding the torch.
‘Oh my,’ Lani shakes her head, ‘that water’s rising…see the sides…’
