Leighton downed the bottle and sorted his various weapons into his pockets so that he could move more freely. He hadn’t been shot yet, that meant a major portion of his plan was listed as a success so far. From within the trees he could move unseen until he could get a good few shots lined up. He needed to start away from the house as far as possible and see if he could kill – he shuddered at that thought – as many soldiers as possible without any more finding out about it. Neither the rifle nor the handgun had any silencing on them and he had heard neither type fire while he was here to know how loud they would be until that first shot.
He walked away from the complex until he found a dip in the ground that ran parallel to the complex towards the road and stooping low and focusing ahead of him he carefully stepped forward, blindly testing the ground with each foot as he went.
The man appeared in Tariq’s gully, moving straight towards him. Tariq kept himself as perfectly still as he could manage, his hands under his shoulder ready to spring up in an instant. The man was looking past and above him. As each step brought the man closer, Tariq realised with more certainty that he was going to be either tripped over or stepped on. -And that man had a rifle.
A foot landed lightly within a few inches of Tariq’s ear. Tariq decided to move.
Leighton felt his foot snag and his body lurched forward. Letting go of the rifle to brace against the fall, he hit the ground. Before he could turn to look back at what had tripped him, a large weight came down on his shoulders. He grappled for the rifle, eventually grabbing it by the barrel, but it was stuck fast, pressed down into the dirt. He felt two hands push his face further into the ground.
“Shh,” came a voice. “You’re not a soldier. Are you?”
Leighton tried again futilely to move his head. He resided and spoke back. “Most certainly not. Does that mean you’re not?”
“I am not.”
Silence hung in the air, Leighton tried desperately to process all the information.
“Does that mean you might let me up? Why are you-? I don’t know anything. Please explain,” Leighton said, lifting open hands out in front of him. He was caught so unaware that rage had not been able to kick in. Given his recent bouts, he was impressed with himself.
Tariq rolled the prone man over, keeping his foot placed firmly on the rifle.
“First, you explain. Why and how are you here?” he asked.
“I was born without knowing why and then continued to never find out why. They call me Leighton. In the context you want, I was in the barn-”
Tariq interrupted. “I don’t recognise you.”
“Why would you? Wait. Please tell me what’s going on,” Leighton whispered earnestly.
“Fine. I am here to rescue a girl named Mina. I met her friend in a town a few miles over. I’ve been nearby for two days working on a plan,” Tariq explained.
“Oh. That’s good. I know her.”
“You were in the barn with her, then?”
“Yes.” Leighton afforded a smile and Tariq dropped his shoulders.
“You didn’t leave yesterday. I figured I would have seen everyone.”
“If you lean in close enough you can probably smell my lack of basic hygiene. I was due to be last to go, but before I got a chance, something happened with your Mina while she went to shower and they cancelled mine. More importantly, we basically have the same mission. I am looking to save my wife and child. You may have seen a woman with a baby.”
“I did, she must be the black woman, right?” Leighton furrowed his brow. “Get that look off your face, it means nothing bar a way of identifying her once we get in.”
“All right, all right. The last time someone mentioned her skin colour, it was with much more derision. What’s your plan then?”
“I was going to sneak in, somehow find a way to open up the doors of the barn and then free everyone inside and run off into the night.” Tariq paused. “It- er- sounds a bit crap said out loud. Especially said to a guy that apparently has real weaponry and assumedly some kind of better plan for freeing his captive wife. I’m sorry.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, my plan is to get really fucking angry and kill somewhere between eight and ten trained soldiers.”
They both sniggered quietly and Tariq removed his foot from the gun and sat down next to Leighton, offering a hand to help him up to sitting. “Tariq,” he said as they clasped hands.
Chapter 53
Mina fought her eyes from closing, it had surely been an hour or more since Leighton had jumped out. The barn remained filled with an oppressive silence that seemed to overwhelm the sounds of deep sleep breathing. Shannon remained asleep next to her, clutching Zeke tightly. The knot of anxiety in her stomach increased its pressure minute after minute as she willed the sight of Leighton entering the building again. This time he would swing the doors open wide, letting the light flood in, in juxtaposition to slinking out of it under the cover of darkness. She wanted to wake Shannon for the company, but it would do no good for them both to sit here worrying. She was glad that Leighton had asked her to wake first. If she was as nervous as she was, surely Shannon would find it unbearable.
After another frustrating and undeterminable period, Mina heard movement from the other side of the barn and leant her head up against the wall to get a better look. One of the younger two men had gotten up and was stretching his arms and legs in the dim light. He looked over, Mina felt as though he was looking straight at her, but he didn’t react. As he turned his back, Mina gave a nudge to Shannon, who woke easily.
“What’s up?” she whispered before Mina could motion a finger to her lips. Mina pointed delicately across the room to where another of the men was sat up at the feet of the first.
“They are awake,” Mina whispered as lightly as she could.
“You’re up too? That’s strange,” said the indeterminable man directed to Mina and Shannon. “The little one keeping you three awake?”
Mina and Shannon lifted themselves to sitting. “Something like that, did he wake you?”
“No, he’s not made a noise all night.”
“Shit,” Shannon said to Mina. Then to the farmers, “So why are you up at this time?”
“We supposed that your man has already made a dash out into the night and we are going to do the same before he brings the whole army out there tearing this barn apart.”
“Eight men is not an army,” Mina interjected derisively.
“Well they are more armed than us now and you may be aware that they did a number on us even when we were armed too.” Warren thumped him on the arm. “Get off.” He continued. “We’re going. I’m guessing you’ll be waiting for the door. Unless he is just hiding in the straw.” The farmer bobbed his head around as if considering the stack.
“Give us a moment please,” Mina said, raising a finger. Covertly to Shannon, “I’m not sure what to do. If they get out they could distract the soldiers from what Leighton is doing. If they get seen too early, then it could either lead to the lot of them being killed – including us – or them ending up back in here, but leaving all the soldiers on higher alert for when Leighton makes his move.”
Shannon thought for a few moments before answering. “We stall them. The soldiers are lazy and unorganised. Leighton doesn’t need them turning their backs on that lifestyle.”
“Okay, how are we going to do that?”
“In any way we can.”
Tariq and Leighton had talked for a while, bringing both of their plans together and working on one that if unchanged by the laws of Murphy and Sod, would be successful. They knew it would never be that easy, but would act as their foundation plan on top of which all the numerous possible permutations and reactions could be piled on top. They had contemplated not having any sort of plan, but that would make it too difficult to start. What they had was enough to go ahead with.
After the conversation, they shook hands again and Leighton led the way towards the far end of the compl
ex away from the main house, rifle loaded and poised ready in his hands. They stuck to the gully, their heads low and eyes switching between their feet and the soldiers wandering the complex. Tariq felt strange with the two grenades lining his pockets and knowing that in a few short minutes he would be firing a rifle for the first time in his life.
Leighton slowed to a stop, raising a closed fist. Tariq stopped and immediately lay prone, shuffling each of the grenades so that they didn’t dig into his protruding hip bones. He was slim before, but certain things like that reminded him how much weight he had lost in the last few weeks. Every bone he had seemed to stretch the skin around it.
Tariq watched Leighton move forward, getting closer and closer to the ground until he was dragging himself forward to the lip of the gully about twenty meters in front of him. Leighton pressed the rifle’s barrel length into the dirt for support and after a few little shuffles to his position, brought his eye to the sight.
Leighton watched the outgoing pair of soldiers for some time as they walked on towards the road, getting closer to his gun with each step. He held steady taking deep even breaths, keeping the closest man in the crosshair. As the men passed him, he held a long breath and blew it out steadily through his mouth. He waited for a clear shot of their backs. A few more steps. He took his breath in. -And squeezed the trigger gently.
Tariq flinched as the first shots fired. Five shots rang clearly defined in the otherwise still air. It was loud to him, being so close, but he couldn’t be sure how far it would travel. Tariq anxiously anticipated a barrage of return fire. It never came. He looked up at Leighton, who held deathly still and willed him to move. Tariq was just at the point where he was going to get up and check the man for a pulse when Leighton pulled himself back into the gully.
Leighton returned to Tariq and placed the rifle carefully down in front of his hands. Leighton leant in close, clapping a firm hand on Tariq’s back. “You’re tagged in. Remember, five minutes or until the need arises.”
“Did anyone see?”
“No idea. We’ll know soon enough. You just keep to the plan and it will all be okay.” Leighton left immediately with the metallic sound of a round entering the chamber of the handgun. Tariq started the slow count to three hundred, while he attempted to replicate Leighton’s firing posture.
“Insha’Allah,” Tariq replied.
“Huh?”
“I fucking hope so.”
Everyone’s eyes suddenly turned towards the door as five evenly spaced pops reverberated in the air. Each inhabitant of the barn was frozen for a whole minute. Staring as if they could see through the walls and see the sound. It may have been faint, but they all knew what had caused it. Shannon was the first to move. First, a shake. Then it was as if she was vibrating to a low frequency of fear. Mina moved next to rub her back, vigorously from the manifestation of her own fear for the woman.
Mina kept her eyes on the door until one by one, the heads of the farmers turned towards the two of them. She felt instantly fragile under their serious and cutting gaze. They moved towards them with the three men standing side by side and the two women clutching each other’s hands behind. Mina stayed her course, patting Shannon’s back firmly to bring her attention up while she clutched the handle of the screwdriver in her other hand.
“Which end of the gun do you think your husband ended up at?” Warren asked. “Up against trained soldiers.”
“Shannon, stay here,” Mina said privately. She stood – high in the straw – and faced the incomers “What is your point? Are you fancying yourselves against them out there? If you think you stood a chance, would you be in here now. I heard that there were more of you before. -And didn’t you say you were all armed too? You are here. What were you even trying to do? Nothing you have done so far has got you any closer to being free. You’re just waiting for death. Leighton is out there. Still! Looking to save the life of his wife and child. You should count yourself damn lucky to be getting freed at the same time. He’s got a strategy that you lot could only dream of. If I were you, I would sit down and wait to be let on your way.” Mina’s hands shook violently and her knuckles were white with the strength of her grip on the screwdriver. “-And Warren, you’re a fucking dick.”
“You little bitch. What are you doing about it?” He opened his mouth to speak more, but Mina cut him off.
“I’ve been watching, I’ve seen how they work out there.” She pointed violently at the door of the barn. “I may not be strong or be able to fire a gun, but Leighton is enacting the plan that the three of us made. You’re getting a free ride.” Spit flew with her words.
“We are very grateful for your hand-me-down,” Glen said.
“Give it up. Get out of the way. Wait for your hero to come save you,” Mark added. The three men were now stood at the base of the pyramid.
Mina leered over them. “No.”
“Do you want him to come back and find you with black eyes?” Warren goaded.
Everyone simultaneously ducked their heads as louder pops of gunfire rung in the air.
Chapter 54
Tariq started firing wildly in the direction of the two soldiers nearing the bodies that Leighton had left for them to find. They returned bullets equally erratically into the trees around Tariq as they retreated towards cover behind the animal sheds. Once they took cover, Tariq let time fill the gap between bullets. He wanted to drag this out for as long as possible, keep them pinned down to let Leighton do his part of the plan. His partner was clearly a much better shot and Tariq figured that even if he was aiming at either of the men, the chances of injuring them in the slightest was low. Even so, he aimed high, wide, low, any direction he could keep them from firing back without doing any damage.
The soldiers fired in bursts of bullets from around the edges of the building and judging from the distribution of the bullets, they didn’t yet know exactly where Tariq was. He squeezed the trigger once more. Out of ammo. Time to move. Tariq dragged himself away from his firing spot, the rifle dragging along by the strap over his shoulder. Once he was out of the general spread of bullets heading his way, he pulled a magazine out of one of his pockets, fumbled around with the rifle’s various switches until the other popped out and took three attempts to fit the new one into the slot. The situation seemed crazy to Tariq, his heart rate and mind were both racing. He could barely recall what he had discussed with Leighton. Time to just faff and pray.
Leighton was once again stooped under the glass part of the utility room door. He heard the gunfire die down at the other end of the complex and heavy footsteps and shouting were filling the building at his back. He told himself to wait. He nodded his head in time with his rapid breathing. The thudding was dying down. He burst through the door. Time no longer on his side. He had to get his part done before they locked down Tariq’s position in the gully. He hoped that he was remembering to move closer to the house after every reload. He cared much less for his noise and crouched while he grabbed another rifle and slammed a magazine in. He cocked it and released the safety, aiming straight at the door into the rest of the house. Nobody came.
He pocketed a grenade and slowly inched around, the next room was clear but he saw a dark figure through some frosted glass at the far end. A stair case stood to his left next to a window with cardboard duct taped over it. He moved back into the utility room and took cover behind the door frame as he targeted the shadowed outline. Squeezing the trigger, Leighton was surprised to find three bullets burst from the end of his gun, the recoil sending the barrel towards the ceiling. Only one of the bullets was anywhere near where he aimed, shattering the glass from the top of the door. “Shit,” he murmured to himself. He pulled the barrel back down, once he knew what to expect he braced himself against the burst fire’s recoil and sprayed into the room. In tandem with his second squeeze of the trigger, a triplet of gunfire was returned. He pulled back and blind fired. A pained shout rose and he fired again, lower.
“You bastard,” came an ag
onised cry. “Oh shit. Medic!” The man yelled before a hacking cough. A flurry of rapid footsteps sounded down the stairs.
“Oh man,” Leighton said out loud. “This is fucked up. What next?” Leighton shook his head back and forth as he racked his brains. “Think computer game. Grenade!”
“What the-?” a gruff voiced man said in surprise as a heavy ball of metal bounced loudly on the floorboards at his feet, “Cover!” he yelled.
Leighton was fairly sure his eardrums had just burst, the only sound, a piercing tinnitus. He was covered in plaster from the wall by which he had huddled next to for protection from the blast. “That was much louder in real life,” he said to himself. He clenched his eyes shut. “Real life. Shit.” He let out a growl. “Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Where’s my mind-drowning rage when I actually need it.” He moaned. “Tariq,” he suddenly remembered audibly.
Shannon tied Zeke to her back using a head wrap and stood near the top of the straw bale structure. Mina took up a position a step lower. Suddenly, an explosion reverberated as if it had originated inside the barn. Shannon and Mina steadied themselves as if the shock wave would knock them off their respective perches. The women down below grabbed at the arms of the oldest two men and struggled to pull them back.
“Guys. We are going,” said Warren as he placed his first foot onto the crunching steps.
The darker haired women called at him and tried to get past the thick arms of Mark. “No, Warren. Come on. Just leave it. Sit it out. Please, Warren.” Tears were glistening in the low light on her cheeks. “What will you even-” She shrieked as Mark pulled her back and flung her down to the cold ground.
Ousted: A thrilling debut novel of survival and humanity Page 28