by J M Hart
One by one they slid into the suffocating space. The darkness was getting to Joe; frustrated, he wanted to scream out loud. He thought of Sophia and how brave she was. He reached back and searched for her hand and held it tight. He sucked in his belly and kept shuffling to the right.
“You know, Joe, every turn we have made is to the east,” Sophia said.
He stopped shuffling, breathing heavily. “Really, I’m going to resist the urge to ask you how you know that.”
Time was non-existent and the darkness was making Joe feel a little crazy. He stopped again and looked at his hand against the rock and thought he could see it. He held it up in front of his face and was able to detect a faint outline. He looked back at Sophia and could identify her shape. He shuffled forward, urged on by the possibility the light was just around the next bend. It was getting tighter and the rock scraped against his belly, ripping his clothes. He squeezed around a sharp narrow corner past a protruding boulder into an opening of blinding light. Instinctively, he covered his eyes. “You’re going to have to let your wee eyes adjust, hen. It’s bright.”
Sophia and Father McDonald followed him into the open, shielding their eyes. A stream of light from above shone down into the middle of a domed cavern. Beyond the hole in the ceiling was the sky. Their movement disturbed the wildlife nestled amongst the cracks in the cavern’s walls. Hundreds of birds took flight, chirping and squawking, spiraling up and escaping into a clear blue sky. It was a magnificent sight. With their heads tilted back they watched in awe as the birds flew into the streaming light. The cave went silent. Joe reckoned himself to be trapped in the pit of a lion’s den. He looked at Father McDonald who was holding his chest trying to catch his breath. He dropped his hand to his side aware of Joe’s gaze.
Father McDonald squeezed out a few words. “Smell that? That’s the smell of fresh English air.”
“How do you know we didn’t make our way to the tip of Scotland?” Joe asked, sitting on a boulder. “Don’t look at me like that, hen, I’m just resting me peg. I suggest you two do the same.”
“Scotland has a sweet fragrance of life that warms your heart in the coldest of winters. That’s how I know we must be in England,” Father McDonald said.
“Come on, we have to push on. It’s not much further,” Sophia said. But the men weren’t budging. Sophia sat down and wrapped her arms around her legs trying to warm up. “Okay, five minutes.” Her clothes were drying slowly, but she knew a warm bed awaited, and a breakfast Joe would die for.
*
The air through the opening in the cave ceiling was sending a chill down Sophia’s spine. They had been resting for fifteen minutes, but it seemed to her like ages. She was feeling the cold more and more and just wanted to get going again — they were so close. Off to her far right a shadow moved and she turned her head as slowly as possible. The figure was familiar, an animal. It looked like the deer and it knew she had seen it. It turned down a tunnel on the other side of the cave. Sophia got up. “We have to go now. Joe, help Father McDonald. Follow me,” and she ran off after the deer.
“Wait, Sophia, don’t run off like that,” Joe said.
Sophie walked closer to the deer. Every step she took made noise and she was afraid she would scare it off. She reached out her hand and it was gone. Joe and Father McDonald came up behind her.
“What is it?” Father McDonald asked. The three of them stood waiting for their eyes to adjust to the new darkness. The smell of salty air had penetrated down the musty tunnel.
“It’s not far now,” she said, looking at Father McDonald. “Casey knows we are coming. The others are together. They are tired and scared but safe for now.” They moved in silence. Joe had given up questioning her. His life, all our lives, have changed so much. She knew what it was like to lose the people you loved and felt his heartache. If we could only live within our dreams we would be happy and live a thousand lifetimes in a single night. He lost his best friend and brother. She reached out and held Joe’s larger hand.
“Can you smell that?” Joe said. “That smells good.” They walked into another tunnel, another chamber.
“Casey was here,” she said, looking at the jug and bones on the ground.
“Who is Casey?” Joe finally asked.
“He’s my friend. That’s who we are going to see. He’s from Utah.”
“Utah in the US of A? But, hen, we haven’t left the country. At best we are near the Holy Island.”
“That’s perfect, Joe. I knew you could do it. God sent you for a reason. To be the navigator.”
“That smell, it smells like a breakfast bar.”
“Is Casey still here?” Father McDonald asked.
“Not in the caves,” she said, “but I can feel something else. He was upset, something about a dead girl.”
“Oh, shiver me timbers, hen, we’d better get a move on, so we can help.”
“No, we can’t help. She died a long time ago.” They walked on and Father McDonald stepped into another cavern, and into and through another tunnel. “Over there,” he said pointing, “up ahead.”
“What?” Joe said. “Something smells good.”
Sophia could see the ginger-bearded man in medieval robes passing through a wall. “I see him.”
“Who is ‘he’?” Joe said. “I don’t see anything.”
“I don’t know,” Sophia said. “Can you see him too, Father?”
“Yes, yes, I can Sophia.”
They moved towards the wall and Joe followed his nose and found the opening into the basement. The smell of fresh eggs and toast drifted down the stairs.
“What if we are in the wrong place and the people on the other side of that door aren’t friendly, after all? It could be a base of infected soldiers.”
“Have you seen any of the infected eat?”
“At the beginning, yeah. I couldn’t tell them apart until they got violent,” Joe said.
“Okay, Joe, you go first,” Father McDonald said.
“No, it’s not necessary,” Sophia said.
“If it’s not necessary, why are you whispering?” Joe asked.
“I, I don’t know. You started whispering first,” she said.
*
Casey watched Terry cook. He was currently working at shaking the pan to keep the scrambled eggs from sticking. He had made porridge with stewed rhubarb as well as kippers with fried tomato and toast. He scraped them into a dish then searched for a place on the table. Terry looked at all the food and shuffled a couple of plates around to make room; he realized he’d overdone it.
He looked at Amy. She was looking at him with a smile. “Hope you don’t think we three are going to eat all of this?”
Terry was wearing Amy’s great-aunt’s apron and wiped his hands on it. He scratched his head. “I don’t know what I was thinking,” he said. “How wasteful. We should be conserving the food. Look at me acting like nothing is happening.”
Amy got up and hugged him. “It’s okay,” she said, picking up a plate and kissing his cheek before spooning scrambled eggs onto it.
Casey felt Terry was tearing up. It was all starting to get to him. “Don’t worry, Terry. I promise you all this …” Casey said, waving his hand over the table like a magician, “will be gone in no time and —” Casey stopped speaking. They froze and looked towards the basement door. The stairs creaked. The dog started to bark. Casey pushed back his chair and stood up.
“Hush,” Casey said and tugged at the dog’s collar. The dog growled at the door.
Terry stood in front of Amy and looked back at her and Casey. “What now?” Terry whispered. “God, please, give us a break.” He turned back to the basement door. Bang bang bang. All of them jumped with fright. The dog barked. Nobody headed for the door. Terry turned to Amy and Casey indicating for them to go into the other room and hide, but neither of them budged. He picked up the frying pan. The handle started to turn. A big wet dirty man stood at the threshold. Terry waved the frying pan up in the air, lik
e a batter waiting for the pitcher to throw the next ball. He watched the big fella eyeballing Amy and Casey.
“You Casey?” he said in a thick Scottish accent and nodded to the boy.
“Who wants to know?” Terry said.
“Yes, I’m Casey.” He stepped around the table out of Terry’s reach.
“Casey, get back. What are you doing?”
“I have someone who wants to meet you,” the intruder said, stepping aside.
“Don’t you come any closer. Who are you, and how did you get into the house?” Terry didn’t take his eyes off the man. “Casey, do you know this man?” Terry was at his wits’ end, tired and hungry, endorphins from the last twenty-four hours starting to ache in his muscles, and the frying pan was getting heavy.
“My name is Joe,” he said. “I have a strange wee lass who believes you are expecting her.”
Terry looked at Casey; they held each other’s gaze.
“Where is she?” Casey asked.
“Sophia. Come up here.”
They could hear a mixture of delicate and shuffled footsteps climbing the stairs. There was more than one person. He couldn’t hold the pan up any longer. Amy put her hand on his arm and it collapsed by his side.
Joe said, nodding to the table, “Looks like the lass was right. Looks like you were expecting us. I could smell it for the past five minutes.”
Amy stepped around Terry. “Please, sit. Where are my manners?”
Terry kept one eye on the big fella and the door. Coming out of the darkness, Sophia stepped into the kitchen. She was wet, dirty and skinny, in need of a good meal. Despite that, her long wavy golden hair shone like Amy’s when caught in a summer’s rain. She had rosy lips and cheeks and she was beautiful. Casey had tears welling in his eyes as he looked at Sophia. Together they smiled, and gave a little chuckle. Casey was entranced and slowly walked over to her and she hugged him. Terry couldn’t resist; he approached Sophia and squeezed her arm to check she was real.
“I’m real,” she said.
He pulled his hand back and looked over to Amy, who was staring at Sophia as well. Suddenly there was a cough from behind her.
“Sorry, Father,” Sophia said, moving further into the kitchen and stepping aside. There was a tall, frail man behind her. Terry grabbed a chair and sat him at the table before he collapsed. “Are you okay? You don’t look well.”
“Please, everyone come in, help yourself. My name is Amy, this is Terry and, well, it seems you know Casey.”
Joe and Sophia went to the sink and washed their faces and hands. “Why are you rinsing them three times?” Casey asked Joe.
“My grandfather used to do that,” Amy said. “Casey, get the man a clean hand towel from the drawer next to your right leg.”
“How did you find us?” Terry said.
“Joe,” Father McDonald said.
Joe blushed. Regardless of his size, Casey thought, he seemed harmless.
“Do you mind if we could dry off our clothes?” Joe asked.
Casey ran upstairs and fetched towels for them.
“Thanks son,” Father McDonald said, drying his clothes before draping the towel around his shoulders.
Casey couldn’t quite believe what was going on. As they sat down to eat, Joe helped himself and began telling them how he had met up with Sophia and Father McDonald. How they escaped the giant hooved creatures; that the evil eye was searching for them. Amy told them about being visited by demons and wandering spirits that were starting to appear more often. She also mentioned what happened in the barn and how he had glowed and used telekinesis to rebuild a wall to protect them. Everyone was talking at a hundred miles a minute, spilling details of every danger they had come face to face with over the past few months.
“These eggs taste so good,” Joe said.
Sophia was enjoying the porridge with rhubarb and Father MacDonald had his hands wrapped around a warm cup of tea. The worst, Casey thought, was the shooting at the church. Sophia told the story with such sadness, his heart ached; and she believed it had been her fault. Casey could see Terry on the edge of his seat, wanting to pick her up and protect her from all the evil that she had seen. Sophia was mesmerizing. He supposed he had fallen under her spell over a year ago when he first saw her in his dreams. He was surprised how much she looked like Amy.
Terry started clearing the dirty dishes off the table and Joe stood to help. “No offense,” Terry said, “but you guys could focus on a bath.”
“Right you are,” Joe said, taking a whiff of his armpit.
“The challenge is going to be coming up with some clothes for you,” Amy said, leading them out of the kitchen.
Casey started clearing the table. “You go help Amy,” Terry said. “Go practice whatever you call it, do your thing. And make a few quick beds.”
Casey smiled and headed out of the room, but not before Terry whipped his behind with the wet end of the tea towel.
“Oi, that hurt,” Casey said, rubbing his butt.
“Oi, that hurt,” Terry mimicked, enjoying their play.
“You must be tired, and dreaming of a warm shower,” Amy said.
“You smell like you’ve been buried alive,” Casey said.
“What sort of comment is that?” Amy said. “And how do you know what it smells like to be buried alive — no, don’t answer that.”
“I just meant they smell of dirt and murky water laced with sweat.”
Amy crinkled her nose and shook her head. “Only a boy would say something like that. Come on, everyone, let’s go upstairs and rustle you up some clothes. Then you can shower.”
Terry placed a supportive hand on Father McDonald’s elbow. “Are you okay with the stairs?”
“I’ll be fine. Just need to go slow. I will be much better after a good sleep.”
“I’ll help you, Father,” Sophia said, taking his arm.
10
Order amongst chaos: Jade. Australia.
Daniel took off his seat belt and asked, “Sally, are you okay?” as he reached back between the two front seats to check on Alex as well. He could feel Sally’s arm moving against his, and he could see Kath and Shaun in his peripheral vision. Alex was conscious, and didn’t appear to have a mark on him. His little face looked like it was about to crumble into tears. “Did we crash-land in heaven, Daddy? Did nanna and pops ask God for their house to go to heaven, too?”
“No, mate, you can’t take things like houses to heaven,” Daniel said.
Daniel looked at Kath. “You okay?”
“Freaked. Where did that house come from? Where are we? What happened?” Kath said.
Daniel checked Shaun. His head was flopped over and bleeding. “We are at the foot of Saddleback Mountain at Alex’s nanna and pop’s house. Isn’t that right, Alex?” He wanted to hear him talking to know he was still okay.
“Yes, Daddy.”
Shaun was unconscious and had a massive lump on the side of his head.
Kath looked out the window as if they were on Mars.
“Sally, talk to me,” Daniel said. “Kath, sweetie, listen to me, can you move okay? Can you check on your mom?”
Kath slowly got out of the car, steadied herself and pulled her mother’s door open. “Mom, Mom, you okay? Show me — show me your face. Ah — that’s got to hurt.”
“My face really hurts. I think the airbag broke my nose.”
Daniel pulled himself back between the two seats and took a look at Sally. Her nose was broken. “This is going to hurt, but it will be quick.”
Sally screamed as Daniel cupped his hands around her nose and snapped it back into place.
Daniel got out of the car, rechecked Shaun, then gently moved him from the car and laid him on the ground making sure his airways were open. “Watch him,” he said to Kath.
Daniel lifted Alex out of the child seat and sat him on the grass next to Shaun. “If he wakes up, Alex, tell him he has to stay still. Can you do that?”
Alex nodded.
Daniel approached the Dodge where he saw Callie slumped over the steering wheel. His stomach tied in knots. “Callie, Kevin, you okay in there? Answer me, Cal.” Kevin opened his door and stumbled out, carrying Molly. Tim was close behind. “You all right, mate?” Daniel asked, placing his hands on Kevin’s shoulders. He held him at arm’s length and looked into his eyes then checked Molly. Satisfied they were fine he scanned Tim’s eyes and body; he too was all right. This is incredible, Daniel thought. “Go help your mother, Tim. She’s okay, just got a bloody broken nose.”
“No need to swear, Mr D.”
Daniel walked around to Callie’s door, staring back at Tim. “You’re not squeamish with blood, are you, mate?” he said, opening Callie’s door.
“No, I’m good as long as it’s not mine,” Tim said, getting out of the car.
Callie’s and Jade’s airbags had been released. Jade’s head had been pushed back into her seat and he was afraid that the blow of the exploding bag had snapped her neck. He checked Callie’s pulse. She was alive. He reached over and felt for Jade’s and she started to stir.
“Don’t move, Jade. Don’t nod or shake your head, keep still until I come over and check you. Can you do that for me?”
“Yes,” she whispered. Her eyelashes glistened. “You need to make sure I haven’t snapped my neck, don’t you? I can feel my fingers and toes.”
“That’s great, Jade. Just keep still for me. I’m checking on Cal … she’s unconscious. I’m just going to check she is breathing okay.”
He carefully moved Callie’s head back against the head-rest. No bleeding from the ears. Her left eye and cheek was swollen and the airbag had knocked her out cold. He pushed her hair off her face and lifted her eyelids, checking her pupils. She started to come around.
“How you doing, Jade? Not much longer.”
*
Jade kept as still as she could. Everything in front of her was like looking through a kaleidoscope. She wanted to move and wipe away the tears. Even though she was scared she was impressed. She was facing a pretty, blue-grey two-and-a-half-story house. White window frames and a large homely wrap-around veranda. A cane chair hanging on the veranda was swinging slightly. They were in the country! Kevin has an incredible talent.
