The drone attacked it.
Another sharp turn and William stumbled again. It slowed him down, so he kicked over another metal rack. The loud crash drew the drone’s fire.
A narrow doorway at the back of the store, Gracie vanished into it, Olga next. Dianna, Max, Hawk, and Artan followed. Matilda slowed, but William yelled, “Get in there now!” She followed the others.
William kicked over one more frame. The drone zeroed in on it while he ran through the narrow doorway and jumped aside, covering his face from the spray of debris kicked up by the drone’s next attack.
Gracie had already made it up several flights of stairs, and she kept climbing. But William waited. He leaned against the hard and cold wall and dragged air into his lungs, avoiding the drone’s sensor when the white light of its torch shone into the stairwell. Did it know he was there? Would it wait for him? They weren’t built to manage enclosed spaces like stairwells.
As if answering his question, the light dulled from where it turned around and flew away. Surely it would try to meet them higher up.
The gap running through the middle of the stairs showed William that Gracie had chosen her floor. A hole in the roof let moonlight into the gloomy space. Olga had gone from sight also, Dianna vanishing through the doorway next.
But Matilda had stopped. She waited just one floor above. It didn’t matter how much he wanted to rest, they couldn’t afford to get separated out here. He couldn’t be the reason she lost track of the group.
The first flight of stairs consisted of only twelve steps. William misjudged the height of the final one, caught his toe, and stumbled forwards. He hit the ground with both knees, clenching his jaw as spasms crawled up the insides of his thighs into his groin.
“William?” The patter of Matilda’s steps came down to him. “Are you okay?”
His mouth stretched wide, every shred of his being focused on catching his breath. His body throbbed; his shins and knees burned. “I can’t … keep going. I can’t do it. I need to stop. I really hurt myself when I fell down those stairs in one of the towers. You go without me. I’ll meet you at … the metal tower.” Stars swam in his vision, and were his stomach not empty, he would have vomited.
Matilda shook her head and helped him to his feet. “You need to get up now. I won’t give up on you.” Instead of leading him upstairs, she led him back down again.
“Where are we going?” William pointed up. “We need to get moving so we can keep on their tail.”
Matilda shook her head. “We can’t catch them now.”
Sweat burned William’s eyes. He blinked repeatedly, for what good it did. Now the drone had gone, they only had the light of the moon to guide them. He could just make out where the light touched the tips of Matilda’s features. The end of her nose. The glisten of her brown eyes.
“What are we going to—”
“Shh!” Matilda pressed her finger to her lips.
The burst of bullets called to them from the other side of the building. The drone must have found Gracie and the others.
“Now!” Matilda tugged on William’s hand, leading him at a fast walk back out into the shop they’d just exited.
His steps clumsy, but at least they moved at a more manageable pace.
Matilda halted again at the shop’s exit before she peered out, looking both left and right. “Come on,” she said, “let’s go.”
The distant fire of bullets echoed through the dead city. Hopefully, all their friends would be there when they reached the metal tower.
Matilda led William across a small car park, away from the large building filled with shops. They entered another tower block.
They climbed the concrete stairs to the first floor. Many more stretched up away from them, but this level seemed as good as any. They found an empty apartment. The silver moonlight shone through the window. A smaller space than the rooms in the hotels, but palatial compared to anything in Edin.
Still fighting to recover his breath, the sound of conflict rode on the breeze soaring through the city. It came from the direction of the tower where the drones had ambushed the soldiers. They had no chance against that many indefatigable drones. Even if it took all night, there would only be one winner.
“I would have stayed with them had I been able to,” William said.
Matilda nodded before reaching out to hold his hands. She sat down, encouraging him to do the same with a gentle tug. “I know. We need to make our own way now. But first, we need to rest. I think we’re safe here for the time being.”
Chapter 17
Olga matched Gracie step for step. She might have the others convinced, but Olga wouldn’t fall for her charm. Someone had to remain vigilant, and that bitch had too many secrets. If shit got real, she’d leave them in a heartbeat. She talked about taking the group to her community. Someone needed to make sure she delivered on that promise.
Gracie slowed at the top of the stairs.
A line of windows along one side of the vast room let in the moonlight. Clothes rails in one section, much like Olga had seen in several other shops. But in another section, there were steel frames from old tables, chairs, and beds. Then in another corner of the huge room sat a line of off-white plastic boxes with windows on the front. The glass remained in most of them, albeit with a spider-webbing of cracks. Those that had lost their screens were filled with wires like some of the other dead machines in this city. “What is this place?” Olga said.
“It used to be a department store.”
“A what?”
“A massive shop that sold everything you could want, from clothes to furniture to electronics.”
Olga’s eyes stung with her sweat. She wiped them with her dirty sleeve. “Why didn’t people just make what they wanted?”
“It was easier not to.”
“Huh?”
A second to catch her breath, Gracie gulped with a dry click.
Olga swallowed against the same parched itch, her saliva a paste in her arid mouth.
“There was a time,” Gracie said, “when people travelled from one side of this world to the other. They’d gotten so good at it, it worked out cheaper and easier to get someone in a faraway country to make something for you and bring it over.”
“What? That’s impossible.”
“I think—” Gracie leaned forwards and rested her hands on her knees “—the word you’re looking for is unsustainable.”
“Don’t tell me what words I’m looking for.”
Gracie raised an eyebrow. “Well, it was.”
Max, Artan, Dianna, and Hawk all joined them one at a time, bursting from the top of the stairs. Gracie leaned to one side, looking past them. “Where are Matilda and William?”
Olga ran back and peered down into the darkness. She turned her palms to the sky and shook her head. “They’ve gone.”
“What the hell?” Gracie said. “Is it that hard to listen to what I say?”
“Maybe they had a better plan,” Olga said.
“And what plan’s that? To get themselves killed?”
Olga balled her fists. “We’re not wet behind the ears, you know? We’ve been through enough shit to help us make good choices. If they’ve gone a different way, it’s for a good reason. Maybe they don’t trust you.”
“Really? After all I’ve done.”
“After all you’ve done?” Olga stepped towards Gracie only to meet Max’s restraining arm.
Gracie shook her head. “So what do we do now?”
“We wait,” Artan said. “They’ll be here. We just need—”
A white searchlight glare cut across the abandoned store. The deep hum of a drone’s propellers. The flying disc shot through one of the window frames on the far side, tearing across the decaying junk.
“I’m going,” Gracie said. “It’s your choice if you come with me or not.”
While the girl who’d led them this far weaved through the rails and remnants of a long-forgotten life, Olga, Artan, Max, Hawk,
and Dianna waited.
“Look, Artan,” Olga said. “We’re in this together, and we stand by you.” The drone’s thrumming buzz grew louder. “But what good are we to the others if we’re dead?”
As if backing up Olga’s argument, the whir of the drone’s guns spun. The ends lit up as red rings before the stuttered burst of bullet fire spewed forth. They all ducked. The bullets played percussion on their environment.
If they waited any longer, they’d lose sight of Gracie. “Come on.” Olga tugged Artan’s hand. The first step kick-started him into action. They ran after Gracie, Olga at the front.
The drone’s light showed them the way. They had a fifty-foot lead on the machine. Gracie about another fifty feet ahead of them. Then she vanished.
“What the fuck?” Hawk said.
The drone gained on the group. The ting of bullets hit the surrounding metal. But it fired less than before. It must have been running out of ammo. If only they knew how much it had left.
Gracie had dropped through a hole in the floor. Just about wide enough for a person. The drone wouldn’t be able to follow.
Olga dropped to her front and slid backwards. Gracie caught her and helped her land.
The rest went through one at a time. Artan slid through last, pausing for one last check.
“Still no sign of them?” Olga said.
A shake of his head, Artan moved aside while holding his arms above him as protection. Chips of floor tile sprayed down on them. Red-hot streaks from where the bullets flew over the hole. The drone got closer. Its attack chewed into the floor where they’d stood, but it couldn’t get an angle on them.
Stairs at the opposite end of the building like the ones they’d climbed to avoid the drone originally, Gracie reached them first and shoulder-barged through the steel door. This time, she led them down.
Small windows let in some light, but not enough. Olga ran on faith, following the sound of Gracie’s steps, wincing every time her foot landed in case it twisted beneath her.
They’d climbed four floors to get to the shop above, but they now went down five. No windows on the final two floors, they ran blind. A metal rail on her right, pockmarked with rust, Olga held onto it for guidance, the friction like sandpaper against her palm. A white flash slammed through her vision when she collided with Gracie nose-first. Her eyes watered and her sinuses burned. She shoved the girl in front of her. “You could have fucking told me you’d stopped.”
As Olga said it, Artan slammed into her back, sending all three of them sprawling.
Hawk fell over them next before Olga finally called, “Max! Dianna! Slow down! We’ve stopped at the bottom of the stairs.”
When they were all back on their feet, and Max and Dianna had joined them, Gracie said, “Follow me.”
The creak of old hinges helped Olga pinpoint the door’s location. She reached out, the steel barrier cold and rough with corrosion. Metal doors were the only ones that had lasted in this place.
A long, straight, and tight tunnel. The glow of moonlight about two hundred feet away showed them their destination. A thick pipe up to their right ran the entire length. It dominated the space, forcing Olga to walk with her head cocked to the left.
Their tired steps scraped the concrete floor. They all gasped for breath. Gracie spoke in between lungfuls. “When we get to the end of this tunnel, we should have bought ourselves some time. Even the drone will struggle to find us.”
Olga had caught her breath by the time she got close to the end of the tunnel. Max walked directly behind her. She turned to him. “What an evening, eh?”
Max cleared his throat.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“I can’t help you if you don’t let me in.”
“Thank you, Olga, but I’m not asking you to help me. Let’s chat later when we don’t have to be quiet, yeah?”
The moonlight stung Olga’s eyes when she stepped from the dark tunnel. The pipe they’d travelled with took a nosedive through the ground. “What did they use that pipe for?”
“Sewage,” Gracie said.
“What now?”
“Waste. Human waste.”
“Ew. They had that much of it?”
“Look at this place, Olga. In its day, it pulled in thousands of people a week.”
“That’s a lot of shit,” Hawk said.
Gracie laughed. “It’s a lot of buckets to carry if you don’t think of smarter ways to dispose of it. Not all the old ways were illogical. Some of them we’ve—”
The low growl of a nearby diseased halted Gracie. They were in a small car park. Surrounded by buildings and alleyways. Surrounded by darkness.
“It’s that way!” Hawk—hunched and ready for war—pointed with the tip of his knife.
“So we run—” Gracie’s sentence got cut short again. She’d been hooking a thumb away from them in the opposite direction to the sound, but Hawk had already charged.
Artan turned to Olga with wide eyes. “What shall I do?” But he didn’t give her time to answer. She might have suggested they leave Hawk if he had. “I have to go after him.”
As Hawk and then Artan vanished into the shadows, the screams of the diseased creature grew louder. Gracie bounced on her toes, her long plait flicking one way and then the other with her sharp head movements. “That noise isn’t good. They’ll bring more diseased to us.”
“You’re not suggesting we run, are you?”
“I’m not suggesting you do anything, Olga. I, however, am going to keep moving. Hawk’s a liability. I refuse to die because of his stupidity.” Gracie pointed at the large metal tower she’d set as their destination, now much closer than when she’d first shown it to them. “They know where to meet us.”
More screams joined the fight.
At first, Gracie moved away from the battle with slow steps. Olga and the others could follow her if they wished.
“What shall we do?” Dianna chewed on her bottom lip, her attention divided between Gracie and where Artan and Hawk had gone.
Olga pointed after Gracie. “I don’t trust her. I feel like I need to keep an eye on her.”
Diseased screams came from another part of their dark surroundings. Dianna said, “Gracie was right. They’re going to bring more of them to us. I worry I’ll be more of a hindrance in a fight against the diseased. I’m not cut out for it.”
“You go after Gracie,” Max said, shoving the girl away from them. And then to Olga, he said, “Artan and Hawk might need my help. We’ll meet you at the tower. Wait for us, okay?”
Before Max ran off, Olga grabbed both of his hands. She pulled him close. Their noses touched, their lips hovering an inch from the kiss she so longed for. “Be careful, okay?”
Max’s tormented glaze cleared. Olga’s entire being buzzed. He hadn’t looked at her in that way in weeks. She kissed his stubbled cheek. “We’ll be waiting for you.”
Max smiled. “You’d best be.”
“Come on.” Dianna tugged on Olga’s arm. More diseased screamed from yet another part of the city. “We need to go now.”
Olga nodded several times as the shadows claimed Max. She would see him again. He’d be fine. He survived, that’s what he did. She ran after Dianna, who chased after Gracie.
Chapter 18
The night sky had turned from black to dark blue with the start of a new day. Damp hung in the air and clung to Olga’s clothes. Hard to tell where her sweat ended and the dew began. Every step clumsy, she fell forwards with her run, Dianna ahead of her, Gracie in the lead.
They passed through the tight alleyways of what Gracie had called the city’s residential district. A residential district minus the residents. They’d left the large tower blocks and stadiums behind. They were now surrounded by houses. Who knew what stared from every paneless window or shadowy doorway? But they could only deal with what stood in their way. They couldn’t go to war with what they couldn’t see.
From a distance, the met
al tower stood as a tall skeletal frame. Almost as if it had been abandoned mid-construction. But when Olga broke free from the final alley amongst the dense press of buildings, she finally saw the bottom section of the sixty-foot structure. Four legs spread out wide, one in each corner of its square base. Steel panels between the legs turned the space beneath into a room of sorts. A shelter. A storage area. A prison … She slowed her pace.
The side facing them had a dirty steel door. Like most metal in the city, it wore a rash of orange rust. For all intents and purposes, the tower stood as yet another dead artefact in a city filled with dead artefacts.
Gracie reached the door, checked left and right over each shoulder, and opened it. The hinges offered a cackling protest. She ushered in Dianna and then Olga before entering herself and closing the door, throwing them into complete darkness.
Gracie’s voice echoed, bouncing off the hard walls. “At some point very soon—” she caught her breath “—I need to be heading back to my community. And I need to do it before daylight.”
“That doesn’t give us long,” Olga said.
“No.”
“Why can’t you wait a little longer?”
“Two reasons. One, this city is much busier in the daytime, so our chances of avoiding capture are seriously reduced.”
“And the second?” Dianna said.
“My community is well hidden. Even if we don’t get captured, I can’t risk exposing one of its entrances. Our strength lies in our camouflage. If either Fear or Fury find us, we’ll be overrun.”
“So you’re going to abandon us like I said you would?”
“How am I abandoning you? I’ve done everything within my power to lead you lot to my community. For some reason, William and Matilda decided they knew a better way. And Hawk wants to fight anything he can. They’re the ones who have screwed this up, not me.”
Olga balled her hands into fists. “Don’t you think there’s a reason why they stopped? Maybe they needed our help. But we just carried on, didn’t we?”
Beyond These Walls | Book 8 | Between Fury & Fear Page 9