by S G Read
On the side the slight wind was coming from the balloons were blown up, loaded with posters and leaflets then released altogether. Will was watching, he saw them rise from the other side of the stadium and smiled, target practice. The balloons on the far side were shot by those over there but the balloons which made it past their patch were his and he shot them down one after the other. The noise in the stadium stopped when the posters and leaflets started to flutter down, men moved to the gates to close them only to be cut down when they tried. The gates remained open!
When all the balloons had been released and dispatched, or not in the case of some, the watchers waited. The clan knew they were there now and if the balloons were released it meant the women and children were out or enough of them were out for them to go ahead with the next part of the plan. They all moved into their final position and ringed the stadium with a lethal array of weapons ready for the fight which was to come.
Jericho was looking at the plans of the stadium, looking for what should be the weak point just in case he had to make a hole in the outer wall with the missile launcher he was carrying. When he came to the spot he took up position in the shrubbery close by and a few men moved over as the attack squad, once he made a hole.
Clem watched from her cover as the windows high up opened and guns poked out with faces looking about for a target. She counted two men to a window but as she watched she saw a black shape behind the men in one window and the two men disappeared although the guns remained. She smiled and watched on, making sure she did not become a target. As she watched the men in the next window suffered the same fate, they were not expecting an attack from behind. Another man appeared at the first window and looked about, Clem recognised him as Gareth at least he was still alive and he was obviously about to take part as he took one of the guns which lay sticking out the window. When Clem looked back to the other windows she saw that the third window had just been cleared by Carlton and Barnaby soon they would all be cleared.
Jericho saw Ray move forwards to the gates and dive back as bullets came from everywhere in the stadium. He chose then to fire and a large hole appeared in the wall in front of him. Before he could recover from the blast, the attack squad passed him and ran in through the opening to get there before the opposition recovered from the explosion. As soon as he was able Jericho chased after them, dropping the launcher and making sure his gun was ready. Ray tried the front again but still bullets rained down.
‘Maybe they can’t read boyo.’ Dai complained. ‘Either that or they are all stupid.’
‘They like the new life too much to give it up without a fight but I hope there are some in there who are thinking about what it said.’ Ray replied. ‘Or it is going to be a long hard fight.’
Clem kept watch even after the windows were empty of gunmen. Below a door opened and a head poked out. She fired at the head and it was quickly pulled back inside again. She reloaded ready for the next try and was pleased when the others returned from shepherding the women and children to safety. The door opened wide and three men made a dash for cover but with five there now they were cut down before they got anywhere and the door slammed shut again.
Jericho found that the area inside was just as hostile as the front gate was for Ray and his team. Half the men had turned right and half had turned left when they had made it through the hole. He chose to go right and reached the area where his friends were pinned down. He took quick looks to see where the opposition were and fired as he did so. On one such try he saw a black arm wielding a terrible looking three pronged spear descend into one of the oppositions back.
‘I bet that hurt.’ He quipped.
‘What was that?’ The nearest man asked.
‘We have help on the inside; don’t shoot the huge black man.’
Heads popped up for a look and they all saw Carlton kill another one before they had to duck or get their heads blown off.
‘Wicked looking weapon.’ The man who had asked Jericho what he was on about commented.
‘And them some.’ Another man added.
As the shooting lessened they moved forward, shooting as they went but making sure they did not shoot where Carlton was heading. The men before them broke and run and Jericho and his men were moving inside the main complex. They reached Carlton.
‘When they said you were big they weren’t joking were they!’ Jericho declared and held out his hand.
‘They taught me to fight now it is time they saw how good I really am.’ Carlton replied as he shook his hand making Jericho’s hand bloody.
‘I hope that is theirs!’
‘It is, I made sure of that.’ A voice answered from behind them.
They turned to see a shorter man with bulging muscles and a short sword.
‘Meet Barnaby.’ Carlton said quietly. ‘He is a pacifist like me.’
They moved forward until they met a lot of resistance.
‘We’ll go down and around and sort them out.’ Carlton announced.
‘Do you want help?’ Jericho asked.
‘No Barnaby and I can do it better on our own; there is not a lot of room down there.’ Carlton answered and the two men slipped away leaving the rest shooting at the enemy in front.
Clem and the four men kept watch on the door, it was their task to make sure no one came out that way and escaped.
‘We should move the van.’ Clem declared. ‘If they reach it they can hide behind it.’
The men looked at each other.
‘It’s alright I’ll do it!’ Clem said in exasperation and slipped out from behind the bush she was using for cover.
She ran across the tarmac between them and the van without any problem then jumped into the van. It started first time and she drove it round the corner to get it out of the way. She parked it round the corner but as she went to climb out a patrol jeep drove up. The shooting had lulled for the moment and they were obviously unaware what was going on as one jumped out of the jeep and walked up to the van.
‘What have we here?’ He said lecherously. ‘Jamal will pay me handsomely for a new girl to play with.’
A burst of gunfire made the man jump.
‘He might be dead by now.’ Clem answered. ‘A bit like you.’ She added and shot him dead.
The man in the jeep raised his gun but a knife thudded into his chest and he shuddered before he slumped back. Clem climbed out over the man she had shot and walked to the jeep to retrieve the knife.
‘Thanks Barry but where are you so I can give you the knife back?’
‘Right here.’ He answered from behind her, making her jump.
‘I’ve told you about that Barry.’ She scolded and gave him his knife back. ‘Not inside kicking ass then?’
‘Not my scene, there are a lot of men shooting willy-nilly without any idea what they are doing, and they are our men! The others are worse!’
‘You’ve been in there then?’ Clem asked.
‘Oh yes I had a look round. The two gladiators seem to know what they are doing and they know their way around, so I thought I’d leave them to it. I’ll sneak back in later, in case they need a hand.’
Clem returned to her post leaving Barry to do his thing. Nothing was happening and the door was firmly closed.
‘What did you shoot at?’ Charles asked when she squatted down beside him.
‘Oh! Only a patrol which chose to come back at the wrong time.’ Clem answered but did not offer any more information. ‘Are we going in?’
‘No not yet. We have to hold this door to stop escapees and if we go in we can’t do that. Most of the women and children are out so we just have to flush out the clan members.’
At that point the door opened and men tried to escape. The five opened fire and men dropped dead but the others kept coming out, three made it to the corner. Terry thrust his head up and shot all three before settling back down again. The men trying that way turned to go another way and died for their trouble, those that were able hurried back inside the sta
dium and the door close once more.
‘Good old Terry.’ Clem declared even though he could not hear her.
Donna was worried about Dawn, Felicity’s new daughter. She was showing symptoms of the plague, or she had a cold but this early it was difficult to tell. By the second day she was sure Dawn had the plague and injected her with one of Ralph’s concoctions. She did not respond and on day three of her illness Donna injected her again with Felicity watching in despair. Dawn never made it to day four; she died that evening a victim of the plague.
‘I don’t want her all alone.’ Felicity said tearfully. ‘I want her buried in the settlement.’
‘We will find a coffin for her and she will go home with us.’ Donna assured her but it did not help Felicity a lot, her baby was dead.
Later in the day, Otis walked in with a coffin he had made himself. He had spent a long time on it to make it worthy of the little tot. He laid it down beside Dawn and waited, after several minutes and a final tearful cuddle Felicity laid Dawn in the coffin but stopped Otis when he tried to put the lid on. Donna held her back while Otis covered the coffin and screwed the lid on. Felicity was crying incessantly and continued to do so, draped over the sealed coffin when the others left. She was not only crying for Dawn but for her dead husband and the fact that her only link with him was gone as well.
Jericho and his team watched Carlton and Barnaby go and could do nothing but wait. The two gladiators nipped inside and down some stairs. They knew their way down here as this was where they had been forced to live. Barnaby was in front and found a gun pushed against his head.
‘Should have stuck to fighting in the arena.’ The man with the gun declared. ‘I reckon I could have taken you though, muscles or no muscles.’
A three pronged spear pinned him to the wall with all three prongs passing through his chest and he sagged without saying anything else.
Carlton walked up and pulled the spear out of him, allowing him to fall to the ground.
‘One!’ He whispered.
They moved on more carefully this time, killing men when they found them, these were the ones who were hiding to keep away from the fighting upstairs. Suddenly from behind a pillar a pistol was pressed against Carlton’s head.
‘I am going to enjoy killing you, you pompous black bastard.’
Barnaby pushed his short sword in an upward motion round the pillar aiming to go into the stomach and up to wherever the blade would reach. The man gurgled letting Barnaby know he had got it right. Just in case Carlton moved back so that the pistol was no longer pointing at his head.
‘One one.’ Barnaby declared and they moved on.
They moved through the underground rooms and corridors slowly making sure they made it to where they were aiming to get to. One led while the other held back, to help if required and swapping from leading to following, as they went. Finally they made it to the stairway they wanted and came out behind the position of the resistance. As soon as they appeared Jericho and his men stopped shooting; Carlton and Barnaby did the rest. Soon there was no one left alive and Jericho and his men could move forward.
‘What kept you?’ Jericho asked.
‘We had to stop for tea.’ Carlton answered as they moved on to clear the remaining fighters above ground.
With them passing the halfway mark and the others under heavy fire on the other side the opposition soon found themselves sandwiched between the two groups. Being fired on from both sides soon ended their resistance and those who were still alive threw up their arms in surrender. That in itself presented a problem, they could not be held on the pitch or the captors would be fired on from the executive boxes and other places which overlooked the pitch. They were taken to the home changing room and securely tied with cable ties to stop them overpowering their guards, enabling the others to go on and sort out the rest of the opposition and to also find Jamal.
‘Upstairs or downstairs?’ Jericho asked.
‘Jamal would have gone to his private chamber when the shooting started.’ Carlton replied. ‘I have never been in there but I do know that a lot of work was done in there.’
‘You need one of the young girls he took in there.’ Barnaby added. ‘They would know what it was like.’
‘Or the young men.’ Ray added from a doorway. ‘Where is Gareth?’
Carlton looked at Barnaby. ‘Did he go after Jamal?’
‘He was fighting his way in that direction but whether he got there or not I do not know.’ Barnaby answered.
‘We’ll go to the private chamber, after all we don’t want him slipping away, do we?’ Jericho declared and they moved off, following the two gladiators.
Ray and his men followed along as well.
The door to the private chamber was locked and resisted all efforts to get it open. Jericho turned on his heel and walked off. The others watched him go and waited. When he returned he was carrying a missile launcher, now fully loaded.
‘Stand back and cover your ears.’ He warned just before he fired.
When the smoke cleared the door was open and they all poured inside but had to dive for cover as a hail of bullets came their way. Two men fell dead in the onslaught and all forward movement stopped. Jericho reloaded the missile launcher and fired at the main resistance. Now when they moved forward there was very little resistance, anyone who did resist was shot. They searched until the found a tunnel leading toward the primary school building.
‘He had an escape route.’ Ray fumed and kicked a door so hard that it fell off its hinges.
‘We might still catch him.’ Dai said and followed the tunnel.
Jericho and his men did the same. Ray looked round until he found Gareth lying bleeding.
He examined his wounds.
‘You need a doctor.’
‘Do tell.’ Gareth replied. ‘He got away.’
‘I know but we will get him, first I will take you to Ralph.’ He picked Gareth up and carried him as well as he could, suddenly the weight was gone as Carlton and Barnaby took him from Ray.
‘Where do you want him?’ Barnaby asked.
‘We have an ambulance up the road so to a jeep would be a good idea.’ Ray answered.
‘We will carry him all the way if we have to, he gave us our freedom.’ Carlton replied.
Outside the two men found a jeep which would still run, despite all the holes in it and put Gareth in the back, then they all went off to find the ambulance.
‘Do you think they will find him?’ Carlton asked as Ray drove.
‘We will find him and he will pay for what he has done. It fact you will get a vote on what we do with him.’ Ray answered.
‘It’s a shame they did away with capital punishment.’ Barnaby declared as he held Gareth stationary.
‘We are the ones to decide that now.’ Ray pointed out. ‘So if you want him dead you say so, we will all get to vote on it. You can also decide how he dies if it is decided that he is to die!’
‘If we actually catch him.’ Barnaby replied.
‘Let us hope Dai and the others get him but I do have one other iron in the fire as well.’ Ray declared and pulled into the area where the ambulance was parked.
They carried Gareth to the ambulance where Ralph and Danna were busy with the other wounded fighters; he assessed Gareth’s wounds straight away and started work on him, as well as continuing with another man. Ray and the others left them to it hoping for the best and returned to the fight, although by now there was only mopping up to do in the stadium. The only fighting was below the seats where clan members were hiding, hoping to be overlooked but the attackers were not going to overlook anyone. They did find other women and one young girl down there being used as a shield by clan members which stopped them in their tracks as the girl was none other than Terry.
‘Send for Will.’ Ray ordered. ‘He should be on his way in by now.’
Jericho went to find Will personally, as he knew where he had been keeping watch from, it was still not safe just to
walk about and he moved forwards carefully making sure he did not get shot, this late in the fight and just when he was about to free Terry and clear his conscience.
Will met him as he walked out. Will had seen no one for some time so he decided to come in and do something.
‘We have a situation.’ Jericho advised him.
‘What sort of situation?’ Will asked as they both returned to the stadium.
‘A hostage sort of situation and one where I would dearly like the hostage to survive.’
‘It’s her is it?’ Will guessed.
‘It is.’
They hurried on keeping as quiet as possible until they were getting close to the armed men.
‘You go on Jericho while I have a look around.’ Will said quietly and stood while he walked on. When Jericho reached the others they all looked round but there was no sign of Will he was trying to get into a position where he could take out he clan members safely.
The members were backed up into a corner; the door behind them was locked and refused to open despite a lot of effort from the men there.
Will slid under a low ledge and slowly moved forward, taking his time as to get caught where he was, meant certain death. He reached where he was aiming to get to but in did not help as the way forward was blocked with a pillar. He did see an opening above him though and crawled up to look into it. With no other option he moved into the opening and then forward towards the men holding the girl hostage. There was little room to move but when he saw them for the first time he was above them and slightly to their rear. He counted five men and one frightened girl; she was tied up to make sure she could not run off. He lined up five bullets and slipped them into his rifle, he would have to shoot all of them in quick succession without missing or he would be in trouble himself. He carefully pulled his pistol out and laid that next to him as a backup weapon, before he readied himself to fire. The men were frightened and threatening to cut parts off the girl if the others did not back off and Will heard Jericho agree.