by Ian Chapman
‘What is it?’ I said.
‘That’s where we’re going. Seems Gehenna has built up its own community.’
I joined her back in the Eblis.
‘Everything okay?’ said Daniel.
‘Yeah,’ I said. But I wasn’t sure.
When we moved off I set my monitor to infrared, waiting for figures to emerge from the dark and descend on us. Sometimes I spotted something, a shape that disappeared, possibly an animal, but nothing clear.
The road made its way along open ground, great mountains sitting at our side, rounded shadows on the screens. We passed a monument to someone, now defaced with animal skulls and bones.
There in the distance was the Loch. Blacker than everything around it.
We came to a sign. It said Gehenna City.
‘Looks like we’re at the right place,’ I said.
‘It does.’ She eased the tank to a stop.
The road ran straight ahead, across the moors towards a bridge that led to two three-metre pillars with massive doors between them. To the side of each bonfires burned. The doors were set in a heavy fence of tree trunks that disappeared off into the distance.
‘That bridge will never take our weight,’ said Becky.
‘And there’ll be guards on the gate,’ I said.
We moved off at crawler speed, a low hum from the motors.
‘Where are you going?’
‘See if there’s another way in.’ She swung us right across the soft moors, slowing as we pitched across the rough surface. We skirted round the area marked with bonfires and picked up speed. Once we were well away from the gates she turned towards back the town. Aimed for the buildings and noise.
‘We might be able to stand on the tank,’ she said. ‘See over the fence and get some idea of the layout.’
Then the Eblis pitched forward. It fell, nose first.
She swore and pulled the levers into reverse, the Eblis’ motors’ roaring. I hung on tight as the engines screamed and we slid down into something. Somewhere dark and deep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Camped
WITH THE ENGINES FLAT out Becky hauled back on the levers. The vehicle bounced and tracks churned at the ground outside. We were still nose down, canted at a steep angle. Daniel covered his ears and Casper rolled around as the tank jerked and lurched. One of the monitors showed faint light behind us while the other revealed the thing we were slipping into, black and featureless. The vehicle was at full power and warning lights lit in front of Becky but she ignored these, still hanging onto the controls.
Then the Eblis began to move backwards, slowly at first then picking up speed as the tracks gripped. Becky eased off the power as we moved onto solid ground. Once we were a few metres back she stopped the motors, shaking her head as she looked at the instruments.
‘What happened?’ said Daniel.
‘Thought I was going to fry the motors.’
‘What the hell was that?’ I said.
Becky stared at her screen but I climbed up through the tank, opening the hatch and getting out. The sounds of raised voices, drums and music were now clear and there were buildings outlined in the distance, beyond the fence and backlit by fire. Carefully I walked ahead of the Eblis, its tracks clogged with earth and front end sprayed with mud it had kicked up. A few yards in front of it there was a pit, ten foot wide and nearly as deep. The bottom of it was lined with wooden spikes.
Becky and Daniel came and stood next to me. ‘Nice,’ she said.
We walked along the edge. It was the same as far as we could see, disappearing off across the moorland in a wide arc, surrounding the town with its barricade, more a trench than pit. In places it was even wider and deeper than the section nearest to us but there was no point where we’d be able to cross.
Daniel stared at the fire-lit buildings. ‘I don’t like it here.’
‘We need to get going,’ I said. There was no sign of anyone but we’d made some noise. Maybe they’d not heard it over the drumming but there was no point risking it.
We returned to Eblis and Becky drove us off across the moors. Well away from the town, behind a small hummock. She pulled out her map and shifted it around. Jabbed her finger at it. ‘This is where we are.’
There was a small town marked on the edge of the loch, nothing like the size of Gehenna City. He had some other name on the map. Something tame and Scottish. The town’s new name suggested that the sub was, or had been, here. And the trench implied that the locals didn’t want outsiders coming in.
I pointed to a valley off to the south, hidden away by the contours of the land and a decent distance away from town. ‘We need to keep out of the way. That should do it.’
Becky agreed and drove us in a wide arc so that we were hidden from the town by some drumlins. The tank clanked and clattered like mad.
As we dipped down into the valley Casper sat up. ‘Where are we?’ he said.
‘We’re here,’ said Becky.
We drove into a patch of scots pines and parked with the front of the Eblis under the branches. She manoeuvred for the best part of a minute so that the vehicle was as far in as it would go with the tree’s trunks at either side of it.
When she stopped Casper lay back and took deep breaths. If his eyes hadn’t been open I’d have assumed he was asleep.
I got out first. The trees were old and twisted. A breeze hissed through them and the sound of Gehenna City faded in and out: drums and voices. Shouts.
Becky and Daniel joined me and we set up bedding beneath the pines.
‘We need to keep watch,’ I said. ‘I’ll do the first shift.’
‘I’ll check on Casper,’ she said.
‘Me too,’ said Daniel.
I sat at the edge of the copse with Nico’s assault rifle. The sky was pitch black but the glow from the city lit up the west. Behind me Casper was fitful and made groaning noises. It was hard to tell if he was asleep or awake but he seemed to be in pain. Becky and Daniel muttered beside him.
The wind dropped but that only made the sounds louder: singing and drums.
Becky came to join me some time later. There was still noise coming from Gehenna City. ‘What the hell do you think they are doing?’
‘Sounds like a party.’
For a moment we sat and listened to the sounds. As cheers and drumming drifted into the valley.
‘Listen, Trent…’
‘Yeah.’
‘What did make you come back? After you rode off?’
‘I was pushed off the road by Nico and Gregg. Lost the bike.’
‘But you didn’t have to come back to us.’
I was going to give her a story. About me forgetting a piece of clothing and coming back for it. Something feeble like that. Instead I told her the truth. ‘I’m not sure really. Maybe I had nowhere else to go.’
She didn’t say anything for a while. It was impossible to read what she was thinking with it being so dark. Her breathing was steady and she hadn’t moved so it was likely she hadn’t taken a too much of a huff.
Then she handed me a torch. ‘I’ll take over now if you want to rest.’
‘All right.’ I gave her the rifle and went back into the trees, to where the bedding was set out. The ground was soft underneath with low bushes sprouting around us. There were animal tracks between the undergrowth and the ground was worn, strewn with loose stones. As I swung the beam around I caught Casper. He stared up at me with his eyes open. A hard stare.
I put the light out and lay down.
For minutes I lay there as the drumming continued. At last the sky started to shift from black to deep blue. Shortly afterwards I fell asleep.
I awoke to faint daylight. Shouting. Becky was by the tank. Casper faced her. He propped himself up against the vehicle and bellowed at her. He was really pissed off about something.
Daniel still lay beside me wrapped up in his bedding. His hands were tight against his ears and he twitched every time there was a shout.
<
br /> ‘This is madness!’ said Casper. ‘Fucking crazy! We shouldn’t have come!’ He jabbed his finger at Becky as she tried to get words in. ‘What are we going to do? Us, eh? What the fuck are we going to do?’
‘Casper,’ she said.
‘We’re not exactly a crack troop! Me injured, a mercenary, a moron!’
‘Casper, please.’
‘Fucking waste of time!’
I went over to them. ‘What’s going on?’
‘You keep out of it!’ he said.
I looked at Becky. ‘Is it his medication?’
Casper turned on me, red faced. He grabbed hold of my shirt and twisted it tight. ‘Don’t talk about me as if I’m not here, you bastard!’
‘Casper, calm down.’
He pushed a hand up against my throat. ‘Fuck you!’
This was too much. I shoved him back against the tank and jammed my elbow under his chin. ‘You may be ill but you’re way out of line.’ I had him pinned there and he squirmed but didn’t have the strength to push back.
Becky put her hand on my arm. ‘Trent, please.’
For a moment I did nothing. Just let him sweat. Then I let go and stepped back.
He lifted his hand to his throat and gasped. ‘Are you trying to kill me?’
‘If I’d been trying to kill you, you’d be dead.’
He leant forward with his hands on his knees. I felt bad about restraining him like that but he was getting out of control.
‘Look, Casper,’ I said.
Then he launched himself at me. It came without warning and sent me backwards so we both fell onto the ground. As the air was knocked out of me he put weight onto my chest and rained punches onto me. They were feeble and I easily blocked them. Though I could have thrown him off I let him get it all out. For the best part of a minute he carried on like that until Becky pulled him aside.
I stood up and dusted myself down as he hung onto Becky. His arms were wrapped around her and he took deep breaths. ‘You, Trent, you’re the one who fucked this up. With those bastards that followed us. All your fault.’
Becky patted him on the back. Then he started to cry. Great sobs that got louder and louder, the only sound between the four of us. Daniel came over. He laid a hand on Casper’s back. The three of them carried on like that for ages as I stayed to the side. Once Casper had calmed down he slumped onto the ground with his head in his hands. Becky mouthed something to me but I couldn’t work out what she meant. Daniel shifted his hand onto Casper’s shoulder and no one spoke.
‘We need to eat.’ I wasn't in the mood to humour Casper. I walked off through the trees, to the far side of the thicket. A thin mist hung over the valley. There were holes dug into the ground and a young rabbit darted into one.
I picked a branch up, went over to the hole and waited. I stayed there for a while. As a breeze hissed through the branches. There was no movement up the valley or around the warren. A light mist had started to drift down off the hills.
A rabbit darted out and I thumped the stick down, catching it in the back. As it flipped over I hit out again, this time going for its head. There was a soft crack and it writhed on the ground so I hit it once more, then again, until it lay sill, eyes open. I picked up the warm body and settled myself on a fallen tree. Then I skinned it with my knife and set it aside as I collected kindling.
By the time Becky came over I had a fire going, cooking the rabbit on a spit. The smoke rolled out into the mist so there was little chance we’d be spotted. She had maps under her arm, roughly rolled up. The flesh hissed onto the hot embers, giving off the smell of warm meat.
‘You’ve been busy,’ she said.
‘Thought we needed some fresh food.’
She sat near me, shifting the charts around. ‘Casper’s settled down.’
‘He needed to.’
‘He didn’t mean anything. Don’t get angry with him.’
‘I’m not angry.’
She smiled and set the charts out holding them with stones. ‘I need to look at your Gehenna material as well.’
I cut meat off the rabbit’s carcass and ate a piece. It was hot, sweet. ‘Will Casper want some?’
‘Doubt it.’
‘Daniel will.’
‘Okay. I’ll fetch some plates. Then we’ll look at the documents?’
‘Fine.’
She went off and I picked on at the rabbit. It tasted good. All her paperwork was on the ground. There were sea charts and maps but nothing about the actual submarine. That was what they needed me for.
She came back with Daniel and several plates. They sat down and I sliced the rabbit for them.
‘Can we talk about Gehenna?’ she said.
Before I had time to answer there was a loud crack and bright light in the sky, cutting through the mist.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Plan of Attack
THE VALLEY LIT UP for a second then returned to greyness.
‘Should we check that out?’ said Becky.
‘Yeah.’ I set off up the hillside and she followed. The ground was soft underneath as we picked our way through the bushes. It was steep and we tripped and slipped on the way.
At last we came to a point where we could look out on the town. I lay down on the damp grass and Becky joined me. The town was fog-free, framed by the loch to the west with the hills beyond it. A dark gash marked the trench just below, framed by the barricade beyond it. There were numerous low buildings, haphazard looking with one taller structure in the middle. This seemed to have something big on top of it, rounded. Between the buildings figures moved in the morning light, lots of people. Voices drifted over, shouts and cheers with drumming in the background. There was no sign of what had caused the sound.
‘Some place,’ said Becky.
‘Yeah.’
‘I can’t see the submarine.’
‘No.’ The loch was dark blue. There was nothing in it. Nothing visible.
‘Do you think we’d get the Eblis up here?’
‘Not sure.’ Of course. That’s why we came. To blow the sub. ‘What’s the big deal with the submarine?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Why come all the way up here? Destroy it.’
‘You’ve seen the paperwork. You know what someone could do with a weapon like that —’
‘I get all that. I just don’t get you and Casper doing it. You just don’t seem the types.’
‘What the fuck is that meant to mean?’
‘I just didn’t see you as —’
‘As what? Someone decent?’ She stood up. She was getting all wound up.
‘Don’t stand up Becky.’
‘Fuck you.’ She turned and walked down the hill.
I lay there for a while. It was probably best to let her calm down. Blow off a little steam. I still didn’t see her and Casper as saving the world types. They seemed too mercenary to me. Too selfish. Maybe I’d got them wrong. Maybe not.
I looked back down the slope into the valley. The tank was invisible down there but we’d need to bring it into the open to get a clear shot. This probably wasn’t close enough to be effective which would mean going through town or finding some other part of the coast to fire from.
And we’d only get one chance.
I turned back towards the town. There were shouts. Laugher and music. A whoosh and something shot up into the sky. It exploded in a pattern of greens and blues. There was a cheer. A firework. Been a while since I’d seen one. Most gunpowder seemed to go into guns these days.
For a second there was a shadow in the loch, some great black shape. Then it was gone. I stared at the water but didn’t see anything else.
I went down the hill, towards the patch of trees. Away from the town. Maybe Gehenna wasn’t here anymore. It might have sailed off. Sunk in a storm. If that was the case we’d have to work out what to do. I didn’t want to hang around here forever. I picked my way through the bushes back to where we were camped.
Casper, Da
niel and Becky sat on a log beside the fire now red embers. None of them spoke to me. Casper seemed calmed. For now. The remains of the rabbit lay on several plates. Casper chewed away at a last chunk of meat with grease dripping down his shirt.
‘So what's this plan?’ I said.
Becky sighed. ‘Move the Eblis closer. Blow the sub out of the water. You okay with that?’
‘Assuming it does exist.’
‘You’ve seen the town’s name. The trench and gates. It’s here.’
‘Or it was here once.’
‘We have to assume it’s here with everything we’ve seen —’
‘Do we?’
Becky stood and tidied the plates. ‘What is your problem, Trent?’
‘I don’t have a problem. But I don’t want to spend the rest of my life hanging round here.’
‘You didn’t have to come on this trip —’
‘Hang on. You were the ones who lied to me. Gave me all this shit about being brother and sister. You strung me along to get hold of the stuff I had in my bag. So pardon me if I’m not happy to trust your judgement.’
‘Okay. Okay. What do you want?’
Casper and Daniel stared at me. Seemed neither had anything to add.
Actually, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted.
‘Well?’ said Becky.
‘Well, we’ve not seen the sub, so it might not be here. We don’t want to be hanging around her for weeks. Months…’
‘If we have to, we have to.’
‘And even if we do sink it, and that’s a big if —’
‘We will.’
‘Then we’d have to work out what to do next. Where to go.’
‘We leave and head off into the Highlands.’
It didn't seem like she’d thought this through at all. I was about to quiz her when she went over to the maps.
She picked one out, put it at my feet and pointed to a road tracing a route. ‘Towards Glencoe.’ She sat back on her haunches and stared at me. ‘Do you want to talk through our plan of attack?’
‘There is a plan?’