by Ryan Casey
“What if something happens to us out there? There’s only two of us. And it’s like you said. We’ve no idea how tough this group is. What if we walk right into a trap?”
“I don’t want to be blunt,” Harvey said. “But there’s going to be risks associated with every inch of this operation. I’m asking you two because you are capable. And because you are loyal, and I can trust you. We’re going to lose a lot of soldiers in this battle. We’re already losing them. But this way… maybe we can minimise the damage.”
Aoife saw Kayleigh shake her head. She clearly didn’t like the way Harvey was talking about this.
But she heard Harvey’s words, saw the way he looked at her, and she knew what he was saying.
“This will help Sanctuary. This will help secure our future. Isn’t that worth fighting for?”
She swallowed a lump in her throat.
Took a deep breath.
Then, she nodded.
“I’m in.”
Kayleigh looked around at her. Eyelids twitching.
Harvey half-smiled. He looked a bit more alive now. “Good. Thank you. Thank you so much. Kayleigh?”
Kayleigh looked at Aoife. Then back at Harvey. And as much as it looked like she wanted to stand up, to speak her mind, she lowered her head, and she nodded. “Me too, I guess.”
Harvey’s smile widened. “Good,” he said. “I’m so, so grateful for you both. Let’s get you loaded up and get you out there as soon as possible. Time is of the essence.”
He walked up to Aoife, put a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s time to save our community.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Aoife and Kayleigh walked into the night in search of the insurgents, but truth be told, they weren’t having much luck.
The night sky was clear and filled with stars. The moon shone down brightly from above. Made Aoife feel somewhat exposed, even though she was protected by the trees. They’d been through towns. They’d been through fields. It felt like they’d been everywhere. And still, they hadn’t found a trace of the insurgents.
It was like they were invisible. No footprints. Nothing.
Which felt impossible, considering just how big an attack they’d launched on Sanctuary.
Up ahead, Aoife could see caravans. An old site, slap bang in the middle of the woods, right by a lake. Hot tubs that had gone unused for a long time, the water from them smelly and stagnant now. Unkept gardens, grass rising high. Boats lying on their back in the lake water, bobbing along the surface. She wished Rex was here. He’d love a dip in that water. Although probably not the best idea when they were trying to keep a low profile.
“Let’s face it, Aoife,” Kayleigh said, sighing. “We’ve not a clue where they are, and we aren’t gonna find them any time soon.”
Aoife ignored her. Kayleigh’s whinging was annoying her. They needed to stay focused. Focused on the plan.
“Harvey won’t be mad,” Kayleigh said. “If it’s upsetting him you’re worried about.”
“I’m not worried about upsetting Harvey.”
“Really? You’re his little teacher’s pet.”
“That’s not true.”
“Of course, it’s true. Why do you think he asked you to do this in the first place?”
Aoife shrugged. “He asked you too.”
“Probably just to keep you in check. But honestly… this was your call, coming out here. I never liked the idea. Something I don’t like about it at all. Just feels… dangerous.”
Aoife looked around at the empty caravans. This place had clearly been abandoned long ago. “Everything about this is going to be dangerous. There’s no part of this process that won’t be dangerous. But Harvey is right. We’re out here because we need to track the terrorist bastards down. We need to know exactly what we’re dealing with. And if we can prevent anything like that happening again… then that’s exactly what we have to do.”
Kayleigh looked at her, then turned away. In that way that told Aoife there was definitely something still on her mind.
“What?”
Kayleigh shook her head. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to say anything. I know that look on your face.”
“I just…”
“Go on. Spit it out.”
Kayleigh sighed. “Sometimes I just wonder how far you’d go even if the truth was staring you in the face.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It doesn’t mean anything. I just… I dunno. There’s something about you that reminds me of how I was. With Robert.”
Aoife laughed a little. “You’re saying Harvey’s like Robert? Really? Is that what you’re implying here?”
“I’m not saying that at all. I’m just… All I’m saying is, be careful when you stop questioning things. When you start only accepting the answers right in front of you. Because that’s dangerous.”
Aoife felt angry. How dare Kayleigh even imply Harvey was like Robert in any way. Robert was a vicious cult leader who was all talk and no end product. Harvey was their saviour. He’d saved them from the darkness, and he’d given them power. He’d given them safety. And he ran by democracy, not with lies.
“Look,” Kayleigh said. “All I’m saying is… let’s just take our time here. If we don’t find anything, we don’t find anything. We fall back. Get some rest. We could definitely do with some rest, that’s for sure.”
“I don’t want rest. Not while people are dead. Not while there’s blood on the hands of these insurgents. I won’t rest until I find them. And neither should you. Because every second they’re out there… they’re a threat. And that can’t go on.”
Kayleigh looked back at her. Wide-eyed. Almost like she was crazy, which Aoife still couldn’t wrap her head around because she wasn’t the crazy one here. If anything, Kayleigh was, by even implying Robert and Harvey were similar.
“If you want to go back, you go back,” Aoife said. “But I’m here to do what I was asked to do. For our community.”
She walked past Kayleigh, kept on going, not looking back, not once.
“You know what?” Kayleigh said. “Maybe I will go back.”
“You do that.”
“You’d really let me? On my own?”
“You’re a big girl. You can look after yourself.”
“Wake up, Aoife.”
Aoife stopped. Looked back.
Saw her standing there, shaking her head.
“What did you say?”
“I’m sorry you’re feeling the way you’re feeling about what happened yesterday. I’m sorry about Gregg. I’m sorry about all of it. But you need to face it. The place we thought was perfect wasn’t perfect at all. It was vulnerable. It is vulnerable. Just like everywhere else. And that’s how it’s always going to be. No matter how many terrorist fucks we take out in the process. That’s the nature of the world before the power went out. That’s life. Nothing is permanent. It’s about time you woke the fuck up and realised that.”
Aoife’s cheeks burned. There were so many things she wanted to say to Kayleigh. So many ways she wanted to physically explode.
She went to open her mouth to lambast her when she heard something.
Close by, cutting through the silence.
Voices.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Aoife heard the voices, and she knew they weren’t alone.
She stood there in the darkness of the caravan site. The moonlight bounced off the lake water in the distance. And as she listened to those voices, she knew it could be absolutely anyone at all.
But there was a place deep down that told her she knew who this was.
Exactly who it was.
The insurgents.
Somehow, she just knew it was them. It had to be them.
They were close.
She turned around. Looked past the caravans. Looked into the darkness of the woods. Kayleigh stood there with wide eyes, too. Suddenly, their argument earlier slipped into irrel
evance. It felt like it didn’t matter at all.
Because they weren’t alone.
And every instinct in Aoife’s body was screaming at her that these were the insurgents. They had to be the insurgents.
She stood there, frozen in the woods. Listening as those voices got louder. As those footsteps got closer.
And she knew they needed to lay low.
Because it sounded like there were a few of them.
Whoever they were, there were a few of them.
“Behind the trees,” Aoife said. “Now!”
They both bolted over to the left, over to where the trees were thicker, away from the caravans. And part of Aoife wished they’d stayed by the caravans now. Wished they’d hidden under one, or inside one.
But fuck, time was of the essence, and she’d chosen the trees. Chosen the woods. There was no going back on that. Not now.
She threw herself behind a tree. Stood there, right behind it. Holding her breath. Heart racing.
Kayleigh stood behind the tree beside her. Staring at her. Venom in her eyes, like she couldn’t quite believe she was still here, that the pair of them were still here—both fully aware they were in the shit. Deep, deep shit.
Aoife held her breath and stood there, very still, gripping on to her rifle. She didn’t hear anything. Where were they? Had they walked on?
She was about to peek around the tree when suddenly, she heard the voices get clearer.
“But we have to be careful, Vernon,” a woman said. “You’ve seen their numbers. Any wrong move and they’ll be onto us.”
“Bullshit. They wouldn’t dare.”
“Either way… the sooner we get back to Liskeard, the better.”
Aoife stood there behind the tree as these footsteps passed, listening to them and the voices. She didn’t know how many of them there were, but there were definitely more than the two talking.
All she could think about, unable to peek around the tree to look, was that location.
Liskeard.
That must be where their camp was.
But they still needed to be sure these were the insurgents. They couldn’t know for definite. Not yet.
As much as something inside screamed at Aoife that it was most definitely them.
“Rather stick around here for a while if I’m honest,” the man—Vernon, presumably—said. “Only downside is we didn’t get to stick around and watch the looks on their faces. Listen to their screams. Only thing that coulda made it all better.”
The woman tutted. “Sicko.”
They carried on speaking, but Aoife didn’t hear their words anymore.
All she did was grip her rifle tighter.
Her anger swelling inside.
Rage.
Fury.
These were the insurgents, for definite.
It was them.
And she needed to do something about them. She couldn’t just let them walk away.
She needed to stop them.
She peeked around the side of the tree and saw them.
Five of them. All passing through the caravan site. All walking alongside the lake.
All armed.
“Aoife,” Kayleigh whispered.
Aoife shook her head, waved her off.
“We know it’s them,” she said. “And we know where they’re heading. Liskeard. That’s where they said. Come on. Let’s get back.”
But Aoife wasn’t for ending this mission right here.
She wasn’t for giving up.
“Aoife!”
But Aoife wasn’t listening.
She was getting to these people.
She was following them.
There were only five of them. And they had no idea they were being watched.
They could find something out from them.
They could maybe even deal with them.
She stepped out from behind the tree. Walked, slowly as she could. Clenching her rifle in her shaking hands, gripped tightly. Up ahead, she saw those people. Those insurgent bastards.
She could see Gregg’s dead eyes staring back at her as she moved towards them, as she got closer.
She could feel her anger getting stronger and stronger, even though she told herself to suppress her urge for revenge.
She got closer when she felt a hand against her arm.
She looked around. Saw Kayleigh standing there, holding her, shaking her head.
“Don’t do this, you fucking idiot. Don’t you dare.”
But Aoife yanked her arm away.
“This is for our community,” she said.
“We might not have a community if we don’t get back and tell Harvey where they’re located. Now come on. Snap out of it.”
Aoife wanted to listen to Kayleigh. She got it. Fully.
But then she remembered what that man, Vernon, said.
About wanting to hear the screams.
Gloating about the pain and the misery they’d caused.
And she knew she couldn’t just sit back.
She turned around and walked towards the group when suddenly, she heard something snap right beneath her feet.
A branch.
A loud echo, right through the darkness.
Right through the silence.
She looked up. Hoping it wasn’t as loud as it seemed to her. Praying.
And then she saw something that filled her with dread.
The insurgents turned around and looked right at her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Aoife saw the insurgents staring right at her, and the whole world felt like it crumbled beneath her feet.
The moonlight and the stars suddenly seemed a whole lot brighter, making her feel more vulnerable, more exposed. Her mouth was dry as sandpaper. Shit. She’d made a huge mistake. Kayleigh was right. She shouldn’t have followed this group. She should at least have been more careful. Because two against five wasn’t too bad when the five weren’t aware of you… but when they were, it was a different story entirely.
She stood there. Heart racing. She didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know where to hide. Felt like there was no place to go.
She knew she had to get away.
Because those insurgents were looking right at her.
She couldn’t hold back any longer.
She turned. Ran. Ran with Kayleigh by her side, back towards the caravans.
She swore she heard shouting. Swore she heard footsteps. Swore she heard so much… but at the same time, she had no clue at all if she was just imagining it all.
Just had to keep going.
Just had to run.
She ran. Almost stumbled. Watch yourself. Be fucking careful.
She looked over her shoulder.
Movement.
Movement racing towards her.
“Shit.”
She kept on going as those footsteps closed in, and she ran until she saw the caravans. Threw herself underneath one of them. It was the only thing she could think to do.
Kayleigh followed her closely.
She dragged herself under the caravan. Cobwebs clung to her face. Woodlice crawled over her body. In the corner of the darkness, rats scurried around excitedly.
She lay there on her front and held on to her rifle. She had to be ready. Had to be completely ready to fire at all times.
She had to wait for them, and then she had to do what had to be done.
She had no idea how long she’d been waiting, holding her breath, when the figures appeared right ahead of her.
She watched them walk around. Watched them traipse from side to side. Heard them chatting. Bickering. Arguing.
She saw them walking around so close, and she thought about firing at them. Putting bullets into their legs. She could do it right now. She had the capability. She had the position. In a weird kind of way, she had the upper hand.
And she had the anger, too. That anger burning through her. That sense that an injustice had been done and that she had to set the record straight.
&n
bsp; She watched those feet and legs pass by and tightened her grip on the trigger when suddenly, she saw them take off in another direction, all of them. Like they’d heard something. Been distracted by something.
She loosened her grip on the trigger. Lay there. Heart pounding so hard against the ground she could feel herself bouncing. They were gone. And the weird thing about it? A part of her felt disappointed that she hadn’t been able to kill them.
When she was absolutely sure they were gone, she dragged herself from under the caravan immediately.
“Hey,” Kayleigh said.
But Aoife wasn’t in the mood for listening to her.
Kayleigh yanked her back, pushed her, stopped her going any further. “Hey. What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m trying to find them before we lose them. So we can follow them.”
“You almost got us killed right now. And we know where their home is. We’ve done enough. It’s time to fall back.”
But Aoife could only shake her head. She couldn’t agree. She’d seen these people, and they were so close. There were only five of them. And that guy, Vernon. The way he’d spoken about their people. Spoken about their dead. She couldn’t let that guy just walk away.
“I’m going after them,” Aoife said. “You should head back. Give Harvey a heads up where I’m going.”
“I can’t believe you,” Kayleigh said. “I can’t actually believe you.”
“Well, you’d better start doing. Head back. I’ll follow them. Probably safer just one of us anyway.”
She didn’t even look at Kayleigh when she turned around this time.
But it didn’t take her long for her to hear those footsteps getting closer.
She stopped. Felt her shoulders slumping. “I thought you were heading back?”
“I’m not leaving you on your own out here.”
“I can handle myself.”
“I’m not leaving you on your own, Aoife, because I…”
“Because you what?”
She saw the way Kayleigh looked into her eyes. And she felt it. She felt like she knew what Kayleigh was going to say already, even though she hadn’t said it. She’d felt that tension before. That unspoken tension. She’d buried her head in the sand. Denied things. Resisted things. Because it made things too complicated. Muddied the waters too much.