“Fuck that shit guys." Louise interrupted. "No way, Jose. I'm coming with you, David.”
David was about to protest when John quickly jumped in. “She can't stay here anymore either, I'm afraid,” he said before David had a chance to speak. “She's a wanted girl now too after stealing a car, assaulting an army officer and assisting a felon with escape. She's all over our newsfeed. She wouldn't last another day on this island.”
“Assaulting an officer?” Louise said defensively, looking rather confused. “When the hell was this?”
“Some of the soldiers at David's house,” John continued, “along with one other civilian all witnessed you trying to run over one of my officers.”
Louise sighed and shook her head in disgust. “Jesus Bloody Christ, that was an accident. I was trying to reverse a fucking car. She just happened to be in the way.”
“So, it's settled then,” John finished. “She's going with you.”
“She's definitely not coming with me,” David snapped back at him. “It's not safe for her over there.”
“As opposed to staying right here and being thrown into an overpopulated, disease-riddled refugee death camp,” Louise interrupted him.
“We don't have death camps here,” John chimed in.
“You'll be too much of a distraction. You'll slow me down,” David continued.
“Look, guys,” John interrupted. “You'll need to sort this shit out, and the sooner the better. If she stays or goes, it's all the same. She'll just be more anonymous on the mainland.”
“Anonymous?" Louise snorted, almost choking with her forced laughter. "Have you seen the colour of my skin? I'm coming with you, David,” Louise said sternly, levelling an icy glare straight at him.
“Why, Louise?” David raged. “Huh? Why the hell would you want to risk your life like this? Why the hell are you so keen to stay with me and be involved with this madness, with my life, with my fucking problems? You're putting your family at risk here, for fuck’s sake, and over there your own people are being hunted down like vermin and treated like fucking cattle. Why the fuck would you want to go back to that?”
“Of course I know what it's like over there, David,” Louise screamed back at him. “Of course I bloody do.” Louise paused. She was debating whether to confess the whole messy truth about her life; well, some of it anyhow. Just to shut them all up. “I have no family anymore, David, okay? I have no one left. No one. I lied to you, all right? That's why I was crying at the bus stop last night when you found me. My mum had just overdosed and drowned her own vomit. She's fucking dead. As for the rest of my family, my brown-skinned, non practising, Muslim father was hanged right in front of my eyes and right outside our old fucking flat in Edinburgh.”
Louise suddenly remembered that horrific day almost a year ago when the rancid civil race war had finally erupted onto the streets of Edinburgh, one of the last cities to fall to the vile Nazi and nationalist uprising.
A crazy and animalistic mob of local white thugs had dragged Louise's father, kicking and screaming, by the roots of his hair, out from their tenement flat. More thugs followed them, dragging out her two younger mixed-race brothers, who were then bundled into the back of a big white truck, filled to the brim with dozens more ethnic children, taken from all over the city.
Everything had happened so fast as the cheering mob had wasted no time in hanging Louise's father by his neck from a nearby lamppost. In less than a minute he had choked to death in front of the buoyant crowd, which continued to cheer and chant their racist bile over and over.
“Hang, Paki, hang. Die, Muslim, die.”
Louise's father had never considered himself Pakistani nor a Muslim. Even though his family could be traced back over a few generations to Pakistan, he always thought of himself as Scottish and an atheist at his heart. But the baying crowd of white men and women didn't care. All that mattered to them was that he resembled something that now filled them with a great, cancerous, hatred.
A tearful Louise, along with her distraught mother, watched from a tiny hidden loft window at the very top of the tenement building as the man they both loved dearly swung lifelessly in the breeze beneath them. In fact up and down the entire street, lifeless ethnic men hung from most other lampposts and road signs. Some were even running out of space.
Then the truck filled with the ethnic children, including Louise's two little brothers, was tightly locked from the back before it rapidly drove off through the crowded streets of Gorgie, Edinburgh. Where it would end up was anyone's guess.
Back outside the farmhouse, Louise continued telling her story. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she struggled to get all of her words out at once.
“My brothers were taken away from us by the extremist mobs in the back of a fucking truck, along with dozens of other innocent British citizens, like they were nothing, absolutely nothing. And if the rumours are true about the slave concentration camps, the executions and slave fields, my brothers could be anywhere by now, and in God knows what condition ... dead or alive.”
Louise hesitated again, but only to wipe away more of her tears.
“What little hope I still have that they might be alive over there ... somewhere ... well, it's all I have left to cling onto now, David, okay? It's all I have left.”
David paused, then stared over at John, who was deathly quiet himself. Finally, he returned his gaze to Louise. “I'm sorry,” David said. “I truly am sorry about everything that's happened to you and your family. But if you come back to the mainland now, you risk the same thing happening to you as what happened to your dad and brothers.”
Louise didn't reply. Instead, she continued wiping more tears from her cheeks.
“Look,” John interrupted. “We've been getting some reports that the south of England is still putting up a good fight against the new Nazi regime. London and the southeast in particular are slowly but surely regaining ground every day. If you can make it there, you just might have at least half a chance of some kind of life.”
David frowned at John's words and gave him an icy stare as if to say he'd just given Louise her very own ticking time bomb of hope. Just how the hell was she supposed to make it through all the shit and chaos of the north and midlands in order to reach the south? David raged inside, yet kept his thoughts firmly to himself.
“It's settled, then,” Louise calmly said before David could protest any further. “I'm coming to the mainland. Then whatever happens after that happens. We can both go our separate ways, for all I care. Just get me over there. I'll try to find out what happened to my little brothers on my own if I have to and you ... well, you can go off on your own little top-secret death wish vendetta.”
David continued to grimace. He knew immediately that taking Louise with him was going to be a huge risk. A grave mistake, in fact. He could feel it in his bones. But if she was so stubborn and determined to do this, to go over there with him and put her life on the line, what the hell could he do about it?
“So, what will happen if she stays here?” David asked John, hoping for a half decent yet sincere answer.
“She'll be put into a refugee camp outside of Douglas for God knows how long. Years, perhaps. She has a criminal record now, so she has absolutely no chance of being one of the rare few selected to emigrate to Ireland, or any other migrant-friendly country, for that matter.”
David sighed. He ran his fingers over his head before taking another frustrated breath. He then turned back to face the old man, Norman, again.
“So! Where the hell is this damn boat of yours?”
Chapter 14
The Irish Sea appeared calm and tranquil as David and Louise set off from the north-easterly tip of the Isle of Man and sailed in the general direction of the southwest coast of Scotland. David casually steered the compact and rickety old motorboat from the rear, while a subdued Louise sat in silence at the front end of the boat, gazing out at the sea. Only when the island they'd left faded into the distant horizon, leaving only
the view of the calm waves and the patchy blue sky, did Louise finally turn around to face David at the back of the boat.
“So, are you gonna tell me why you're so keen to get back to the mainland yourself?”
David remained silent. He didn't flinch or acknowledge Louise in the slightest. He just continued steering the old boat while keeping his eyes firmly focused upon the sea.
“It has something to do with Ashley, doesn’t it?” Louise prodded further.
Again, David didn't respond.
“Your girlfriend, aye?” Louise continued. “Is it something to do with her and that blue-haired freak man on the screen back there? And this cottage you stayed in ... the license plate you gave to your friend John?”
Still David did not flinch or even utter a single word. Louise let out a frustrated sigh. “Please, David. You can trust me, you know. This war has taken away loved ones from almost everyone. It's okay to hurt. It's okay to show your feelings and talk about it. It's okay to be bloody angry and want to take some kind of action.”
David gave a little half-glance down at the seated Louise. They locked eyes, but still David did not answer her.
Louise released another weary sigh and shook her head, breaking eye contact with David's intense stare. She fell quiet again. In all honesty, she didn't know what to do or think. Was David still mad at her? Would he ever speak to her again? Was she really that annoying and such a burden to him? Or was this just who David was? A quiet soul with no use or need for words or conversation, no matter how meaningful. The phrase “actions speak louder than words” certainly rang true with his present demeanour and then some.
Louise got an idea. A little flashbulb sparked off inside her head. If she couldn't get him to talk the normal way, she would try to provoke a response out of him another way instead. She would tell David – no, confess to him, in fact – the little white lie and home truth that had kickstarted this whole crazy insane adventure. Just to see if her theory was correct. As far as she was concerned, having David ranting and raving all kinds of insults and abuse at her in the middle of the Irish Sea seemed a little more comforting than having him standing directly behind her the whole damn journey in an eerie and aloof silence.
“I need to tell you something, David,” Louise said, slowly building up her courage as she turned back around to gaze up at him. “I don't think you're gonna like it much, if I was a betting person. But I do wish to be honest with you from now on because I want you to be able to be honest with me and trust me, too, you know.”
Louise hesitated and took a deep breath. Again, David said nothing, not even making the slightest of movements or breaths. He just continued to steer the boat and stare out at the open sea. In that moment, Louise thought he resembled a great warrior statue or some android robot terminator from the future rather than any human being she'd ever seen or known in real life.
“That Billy guy ... he didn't rape me, you know,” Louise finally admitted before hesitating again as she imagined David leaping over towards her like a raging bull, picking her up by the scruff of her neck with one hand and then throwing her as far and as hard as he possibly could into the open sea – and she guessed that might be quite far indeed.
The silence felt excruciating. Yet David still did not react; he just continued to guide the boat in his usual oblivious and meditative manner. Louise couldn't bear the tension, especially not having a single clue as to what David's thoughts and feelings towards her might be now, which was the absolute worst.
“I slept with him willingly so that he'd give me more drugs for my junkie mother. But when I returned home last night after doing what I did, she'd already overdosed on the last batch of drugs she'd had left. That's when you found me at the bus stop. Wallowing in my self pity. And I was angry, David. I was hurting like fucking hell inside, you know? That was why I told you Billy raped me. I guess in the back of my sick mind I had some dark and twisted thoughts that you might be able to do something to him. That you might be able to hurt and humiliate him the way he'd hurt and humiliated me and my mother. Obnoxious, arrogant shitebag of a kid that he was. I guess I just wanted to avenge my mum's own selfishness and my own stupidity. But I didn't think for one second you would go through with it. That you would go and see him and then kill him in cold blood ... so I'm sorry about that.”
Louise finished her speech and said nothing more. She didn't even glance up at David to see his reaction, which, based on his continued lack of movement and emotion, was minimal at best.
Eventually, Louise turned around to face the sea in front of her. Tears formed in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks before dripping off her chin. She wiped them away as fast as they fell, but soon there were far too many tears for her to handle all at once. Behind her, David took a deep breath and glanced down at the back of her petite and fragile frame.
“Don't you dare shed any tears for that sick scumbag, Louise, you hear me? People like him have it coming. They always have it coming. That's where being too cocky, too selfish, too ignorant and too full of yourself gets you eventually in life. And as for your mother ... she wasn't stupid or selfish. It sounds to me like she was struggling with the pain of losing her sons, her husband and maybe one day her daughter, too. You shouldn't judge her like that. You should never judge people less fortunate than you like that. She was doing her best. That's all any of the good ones can ever do.”
As Louise sniffed and sobbed and continued wiping away her never-ending stream of tears, David had a sudden, painful flashback of being up in his Highland cottage retreat with Ashley. He remembered sobbing uncontrollably himself, then roaring up at the high heavens with a deafening, heartbroken cry. He was still sitting on his knees as the pair of burnt and bloodied feet rocked back and forth in the cool sea wind.
Back on the boat, David pinched his eyes and the bridge of his nose. He let out another deep and weary sigh before turning his attention back to Louise.
“I'm going back to the mainland to hunt down Ashley's killers. And when I find them I'm going to kill them all. After that ... I'm done with this place.”
A teary-eyed Louise swiftly turned around to face David. She'd managed to cease the flow of tears, but her eyes and cheeks were still puffy and wet.
“I thought it might be something like that. But what do you mean you're done with…”
Before Louise could finish that sentence the small motor boat began to make strange screeching and chugging noises. Floods of smoke then wafted up from the small engine behind David, before the boat slowed to a gradual halt.
David turned to the engine and tried to restart the motor, pulling the rip cord again and again. More smoke poured out. The motor continued to spit and spurt – more alien noises soon followed and then a loud, hideous bang finished everything off. The motor completely died. No noise, no smoke, nothing. Just the sound of the waves lapping against the sides of the boat.
“What's happening?” asked an anxious Louise, who was now on her feet and facing David along with the dead engine.
David took a breath as he straightened his posture. He turned back around to face the front of the boat and glanced over at the faint, distant shoreline of what he guessed was the southwest coast of Scotland. He turned his head west and glanced up at the sinking sun, still hovering well up over the horizon and perhaps still a good few hours away from fully setting. David turned back to Louise with a grim look.
“We're gonna have to make a swim for it.”
All the colour drained from Louise's face. Her brown skin had never looked so pale or sickly. David, being a man of “act first, ask questions later,” was already ushering her into the cold water.
“Come on, I'll stay right behind you the entire time. It's not as far as it looks.”
Louise backed sharply away from him. “David, I…”
David ignored her pleas and hovered over the edge of the boat. He picked up a small waterproof rucksack Norman had given him and strapped it to his back. The rucksack was filled with w
ater bottles, organic porridge and oat bars – along with his gun and knife.
Louise sat down again. She looked as if she'd seen a ghost.
“Come on, Louise,” David urged. “We need to do this fast, while it's still light out there.”
David gently lowered himself into the cold Irish Sea. Once he was fully submerged, he grabbed hold of the boat again and leaned over the side.
“Come on. It's not as cold as you think. We're lucky it's still the middle of summer.”
“David ... I…” Louise uttered, just above a whisper. She was clearly upset and full of fear.
“Louise, indecisiveness is the secret killer of most people in the wilderness.”
“David, I ... I can't bloody swim, all right? I just can't bloody swim.”
David froze before letting out a half-smile. “You've got to be joking, right?”
“I'm sorry David, but unlike you, I've never been good at jokes and making people laugh. So, I try to avoid it at all costs.”
David smirked at Louise's sarcasm. He gently shook his head, then glanced over at the distant outline of the mainland. He turned back to face Louise with a sly grin.
“Well, lucky for you I'm a man who thrives on physical challenge and not stand-up comedy.”
Louise gave him a queer look but said nothing. David began taking off his rucksack.
“Now stand up. Put this rucksack on your back and saddle up for the longest damn piggyback ride of both our lives.”
Chapter 15
The sun had finally set over the Irish Channel as darkness gradually swept its arms across the water. The skies were still partially clear, but with no sign of the moon or stars to light up the blackening skies, it was becoming more and more difficult for David and Louise to navigate a safe passage to shore.
David had been swimming on and off, in a slow and calm, continuous breaststroke motion, for a few hours. But in all honesty, he'd completely lost track of time, even when following the trail of the sun from time to time with every backward glance he could make. Louise was still clinging for dear life to his upper back and shoulders while gently kicking her legs in a frog-like manner in unison with David's own legs, just like he'd told her, to help them on their way.
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