Safe Zone (Book 2): The Descent

by Suzanne Sussex

  “I knew you would come here tonight. I knew you had to have help from someone to have stayed hidden, it only makes sense that they would have told you about your friends.” He pauses as though I am going to suddenly start talking to him, “It was a risk of course. I mean …” he smirked, “It’s not as if you cared enough about Annie to help her.”

  It turns out that my anger management test result were wrong. Either that or I have grown up after the last few weeks.

  Every fibre of my body wants to launch myself at him, wipe that smug smile off his face. I want to hurt him so much, make him suffer the way that Annie, Johanna, Sidney and Danny’s family have suffered. But I control myself. Now is not the time. Instead, I decide it is time to go. I don’t know how much longer I can control my temper for.

  “I am going to leave now. You are going to remain exactly where you are. If you attempt to follow me, I will destroy the vial.” I know that once I have left the vial behind, they will come after me. I also know that Brian knows this. He smiles condescendingly. If I take the vial with me, he will stop at nothing to get it. I have played my hand. I have no ace up my sleeve. I allow myself a small smile. I still have the Joker.

  I walk past the guards, defiantly refusing to look at them. I collect as many of their bows and arrows as I can carry in one hand. Which isn’t many but at least I am armed now. I kick the rest of them further down the street. Away from the direction, I will be walking. It will buy me a few seconds at the least.

  Reaching the corner, I place the vial right in the middle of the road leading into the street. Making it a little harder for thirty men to give chase without risk of accidentally standing on it.

  As an afterthought, I turn back to the guards, “He is lying to you. Ask yourselves what is so important in this vial? Then ask yourselves, if it is so important, why would someone from Zone E, your supposed enemy bring it here? Could it be that we are here to ask for help, not to harm you?"

  As I talk, I take small steps backwards, and although the guards have remained seated, every one of them has turned their head to look at me. I hope I have said enough to at least give them a moment’s pause.

  I turn around and run for my life.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The moment Sammie’s back was turned, Brian shouted to the guards to pick up their weapons and go after her. While they were occupied, he sprinted over to collect the vial from the road. Acknowledging, if only for a second, how smart a move Sammie had played. It would have been a disaster if one of the men had stood on it.

  He held the prized possession in his hands. A buzz of excitement tore through him when he saw the sticker on the side that said ZN-134 V. His mind raced at thoughts of the opportunities that were now open to him. Maybe if the doctor could recreate it, he wouldn’t need to steal the rest immediately. It would instead give him time to train his people properly, not to mention the time it would buy to extend his dead army.

  If it was a vaccination, they could march on Zone E with no worry about the threat of zebs. Sure, he’d still attack the other zone, but he would be more powerful as he would know what the vial contained. Without a specialist, Zone E would be blind as to the potential contained within the little vials.

  Lost in his thoughts, it took him a while to realise that the guards had not yet passed him. They were casually sorting through weapons and handed them out. He spotted Gary, shouting at them in panic, trying to get them to move faster, but the men ignored him. Irritation rattled Brian, and he stalked over to the group of procrastinating guards.

  “The last person to be in pursuit of that girl will lose rations for one week. If you do not find all four of them, you will all lose rations for one month. Now move,” his voice grew steadily louder until the last words were shouted.

  The men responded instantly and sprinted in the direction the young woman had run. Brian wanted all four of them alive. He would execute them publicly, appeasing the zone for long enough to give the doctor a chance to find out what was in the vial. The traitor, Luca, he would die last. Slowly and painfully. An example of what would happen if anyone dared betray him again. He corrected himself: if anyone dared betray the zone.

  Besides, he reasoned, it wouldn't do for them to get to Zone E to warn them what was coming.

  The vial held securely in his hand, Brian walked back to the town hall, intending to wake the doctor so he could get to work immediately. Most of the equipment the doctor wanted had been found in the hospital. He had men out looking for the rest.

  He would make sure the doctor worked around the clock until he knew what it was.

  Then he would prepare the zone for war.

  Brian was smiling broadly when he pushed open the large doors to the Town Hall. The four escapees were an inconvenience. Nothing more. His plans were coming together perfectly.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The fear of being recaptured made Johanna and Sidney move quickly at first. The adrenaline pumped through their bodies, giving them a surge of energy that had not seemed possible just moments before. But it wasn’t sustainable and as soon as they cleared the residential area and hit the farms beyond, their pace slowed.

  Luca cursed at his mistake. They should have jogged, slowly and consistently. Not an all-out sprint. It was his fault, he had led the way and therefore set the pace, but his mind had been on Sammie. Fighting the urge to go back and help her, he hadn’t spared a thought for how the other two were coping with the first exercise they would have had in months.

  He waited for them to catch up, and scanned the area. The soft breeze flowing through the crops created a calming sound effect, but otherwise, it was still and silent. No one to be seen. Johanna and Sidney picked up their pace again as they saw he was waiting for them. Desperate to be on the move again, he kept his face neutral as the two approached him, their red faces and heavy panting signalling that they need a moment to catch their breath.

  He underestimated the strength of their desire for freedom, as it was Johanna, still red faced and panting, who started moving again first. This time, Luca walked at a fast pace, easing the strain on their battered and tired bodies.

  As they passed the stables, Luca veered off to the left, away from the main track that would take them to the exit and towards the fields where the sheep grazed.

  Startled by the unexpected presence of three humans, the sheep scattered from their path, ewes bleating protectively at them, while their lambs fled to their mothers for comfort and protection. Luca prayed that Sammie had bought them enough time to escape, because anyone with even a small knowledge of the animals, would recognise that the sudden increase in the noise from them meant that they had been disturbed by intruders.

  The field led all the way to the perimeter of the zone. Luca kept a watchful eye on their direction, making sure they were walking in a perfect diagonal.

  Towards the far corner of the pasture, he found what he was looking for. A large trough that usually contained water but tonight was empty. It had been strategically placed, pointing towards the zone perimeter.

  Luca, Sidney and Johanna searched the fence line at the area the trough pointed to. With a muted shout of triumph, Sidney found the hole, conspicuous in that it was roughly covered up by grass and weeds that had been pulled from the ground outside the zone and shoved in to conceal the escape route.

  Pushing aside the foliage, Luca scrambled through the gap. He performed a brief search to ensure the area was clear, then nodded to the others to follow. Sidney stepped back, allowing Johanna to go through. When she was clear, Luca held out a hand to help her up. She ignored him and instead rolled aside for Sidney to follow her through.

  They were free.

  Luca led them away from the fence line, ensuring they were out of sight of any guards that might stumble upon their escape route.

  "Where's Annie?" Johanna asked, looking around for her colleague.

  In the rush for freedom, Luca had forgotten the lie that Sammie had told them in the cell. A
t the time he had understood her reasons. They had both needed Johanna and Sidney to be focused on their escape, not mourning the loss of a dear friend.

  But now as they waited in the moonlight for Sammie, Luca cursed that it would be he, a relative stranger, that would need to break the news. Not her, a friend and colleague.

  He took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, we lied. Annie is..." he scrambled to find the words that would soften the news, but he could not think of anything to say other than the cold, hard truth. He swallowed, "She's dead. Annie's dead. Brian killed her."

  Johanna sank to the ground. The strength and determination she had shown up until now evaporated, leaving a broken young woman in its wake. She rejected Luca's offers of comfort. Instead, she pulled her knees into her body and rested her head on them. Her back shook as she cried for all that had happened and all that had been lost.

  Sidney stared back at the zone, his face a tormented mixture of emotions; relief that they were finally free, and disgust at what had taken place inside the supposed Safe Zone.

  Luca stood a little to one side, giving the former captives a chance to grieve in private. He scanned the field, listening for the sound the sheep would make that would tell him Sammie was on her way. But it was silent.

  After a few minutes, Luca could bear it no more, so he walked back to the fence and peered through, as though this very action would somehow make her appear. Frustrated, he pushed away from the barrier and stalked back to Johanna and Sidney. Then remembering the reason he had given them space, returned to the perimeter to stare out into the field again.

  The lack of action, combined with the sense of being utterly powerless with regard to the fate of the woman he had grown so close to, led him to pace up and down the perimeter. He was completely unable to stand still and stare into nothingness.

  Sidney eventually joined him and rested a gentle hand on his shoulder.

  “You care for her, don’t you?” he asked.

  Luca nodded, unwilling to turn to face the man whom, as recently as that morning, he had played prison guard to. The kindness and comfort being offered by him was undeserved.

  “I’m sorry,” Luca said, “for not believing you.”

  Sidney sighed and tightened his grip on Luca's shoulder, “For what you’ve done tonight, you’ve made up for it tenfold. You’ve abandoned your zone, your friends and your family for us. I simply don’t have the words to thank you enough.”

  Luca turned to meet Sidney's eyes, “Actually, I haven’t,” Luca offered a watery smile, touched by the man’s words, “My Dad is waiting for us nearby, and I appear to have made new friends.”

  Sidney clapped Luca on the back, “It doesn’t matter, you’ve still given up a lot for us.”

  Luca nodded, afraid to speak lest the sob that was caught in his throat escaped. Sidney’s words had hit home. Until now it hadn’t occurred to him that he would never be able to go back. Being caught as a traitor wasn’t part of the plan. He turned back towards the field, and both men stood side by side and stared into the darkness.

  The distant sound of bleating sheep penetrated his despair. Then a flurry of movement caught his eye. The sheep that had been calmly grazing suddenly darted away.

  “We should move,” Sidney whispered.

  “But it’s Sammie,” Luca replied, intent on remaining exactly where he was.

  “But what if it’s not?”

  Luca conceded there was every chance that Sammie had been caught and given up the plan. It could be guards making their way to them right now. If they were caught now, all of the evening's effort would have been in vain.

  “You’re right, let’s move,” Luca said, and the two men hurried back to join Johanna in the shadows.

  Luca heard someone shuffling through the hole, followed moments later by his name being quietly called. His heart leapt at the familiar voice. Luca broke cover and ran to her.

  “Sammie,” he said and pulled her to him.

  She pushed him gently away, “Not now, I think I lost them, but they won't be far behind,” she said, taking his hand and pulling him away from the fence.

  From the previous inactivity to a flurry of movement, the four of them jogged together, putting some distance between them and the zone. Before long, the gentle whinny of a horse carried across the breeze. Shortly after that, the silhouettes of two men and two horses could be seen in the distance. The sky was lightening, the sun would soon be breaking on the horizon.

  The reunion was brief but emotional.

  It had taken longer than they had planned and the relief on Robert’s face was visible as he held his son tightly. Sammie hugged Red and then Robert in turn before introducing Sidney and Johanna.

  Robert extended a hand out to each in turn, “I’m so sorry for what happened to you,” he said, his words sincere. Johanna glanced at the outstretched hand and hesitated before shaking it briefly. She stayed silent. No words were available to express the horrors of what she had been through.

  Johanna and Sidney mounted the horses, acknowledging that they would slow the whole group if they remained on foot. The objective now was to find somewhere safe to hide for the day and get some rest.

  Agreeing to avoid houses and buildings, on the basis that those would probably be searched first, they headed for a small forest, recognising that the overgrown thicket should be dense enough to conceal them as long as they stayed quiet.

  The sun was fully up by the time they found a suitable location to make camp. Exhausted from the exertions of the night, sleep and rest would take priority over conversations to bring each other up to speed on the events of the evening.

  When Sammie woke Luca up for his shift on watch, he found that not only had she had caught and skinned a rabbit, but that she had dug a hole ready for him to make a fire to cook it on. He was impressed with her resourcefulness, particularly when she explained that she had dug the hole so that the fire would be hotter, and therefore there would be less risk of smoke.

  With instructions to start cooking in a couple of hours. Sammie lay down and was asleep immediately. Luca watched her chest as it rhythmically rose and fell. She looked so peaceful, no signs of the troubles she had faced over the last two days. He glanced around at the rest of the camp. Robert snored softly, Red smiled contently in his sleep. Johanna and Sidney were gaunt with the colourful bruises a stark contrast to the paleness of their skin. He sighed. Just a few days ago, life had been normal. Now he was on the run from his own people, and homeless. He expected to feel saddened, but instead, he smiled at the sight of his sleeping companions. For once he had made a difference, he had done the right thing. He knew that the road ahead would be difficult and, at times, dangerous. But he looked forward with hope, not fear. With a look of contentment, he moved quietly around the camp to collect wood for the fire.

  With the trees blocking out the daylight, it was difficult to guess the time of day, so it was his stomach growling that dictated when the fire should be lit.

  The smell of the meat cooking slowly roused the others, and soon all six of them were sitting around the fire, eagerly waiting for the rabbit to be cooked.

  “Thank you for getting Robbie and Petunia,” Sammie said to Red.

  Red blushed at the compliment, “You’re welcome, they are both beautiful horses, I understand why you didn’t want to leave them.”

  “I wouldn’t put it past that bastard to hurt them just to get revenge,” Sammie said, then shook her head as if to rid her mind of the memory of Brian Crowe.

  “Did it all go to plan?” Luca asked, directing the question at his father.

  “Yep,” the older man replied, “I bet the guards are still wondering what happened.”

  “What did you do?” Johanna asked as she hungrily watched Luca turn the rabbit.

  “I pretended I was drunk, shouted at them a bit to let me out to buy more beer from Tesco and then told them I was going to break into the armoury and come back with a shotgun if they didn’t let me out.”

&nb
sp; “We didn’t have a shotgun in the armoury,” Luca said.

  Robert laughed, “I know that, but they didn’t. I reckon they chased me all the way to the armoury. I left the door open when I went in earlier but ran straight past. I hid around the corner when they went in. Then I shut the door and locked them in," he chuckled, "I did leave the key in the lock, so eventually someone will find them and let them out."

  “When they were gone, I led the horses straight out of the main gate,” Red added, “Then I found the place we agreed and cut a hole in the fence for Robert to get through.”

  “You did well, Red,” Sammie smiled at the youngster, Red’s face flushing even more crimson at the praise. Turning her attention to Robert, “So you did manage to get to the armoury, though?” she asked with a look of concern.

  “Yep," Robert nodded, "which reminds me..." he jumped up and retrieved the bag he’d left where he had been sleeping, “I believe this is yours,” he handed Sammie a knife. Luca smiled at her delighted smile.

  “Thank you," she squealed, “I completely forgot to tell you to get it. How did you know?” She asked, staring in wonder at the delicate cap badge embedded into the handle.

  “Luca told me to get it,” Robert said and nodded in the direction of his son. “I have a knife for each of us,” he said, and he reached into his bag and handed each of them a knife.

  “Do you …?” Sammie began, and Robert nodded and passed a small package over to her.

  Luca watched the exchange in confusion and made a mental note to ask Sammie about it later. Whatever it was, she obviously didn't want anyone else to know.

  They ate the rabbit in silence. It wasn’t enough to fill their hungry stomachs, but it settled their immediate need for food.

  As the sun set and the sky began to darken, they packed up the site, clearing away the mess and filling the fire hole. Armed and ready to go, they began the long walk back to the zone as night fell.

  Chapter Twenty-Three