“Does anyone know where are we going?” Maria asked from the back of the group.
“I guess this way should be fine, I would prefer not to take any of the side corridors since I do not want to get lost down here.” Guillem answered from the group's front, he was leading the little group with the help of Tom's small flashlight.
They walked a few minutes when they heard screams coming from behind them.
“Here they are! Come on down! Pass me that shit to fill their disgusting pompous butts with lead!”
Everyone started running and just a few seconds later hell broke loose, they could hear dozens of shots hitting all around them, it had to be the machine gun they used on the surface.
“Hold hands and follow me!” Guillem yelled as he started taking some of the side corridors trying to loose the people chasing them.
He turned off the flashlight as they ran through the many corridors until they finally arrived to a wider one and Guillem whispered to everyone else to stay quiet.
For a few minutes they heard voices, some frustrated screams and a few gun shots. They heard some phrases like “Give me a flashlight mother fucker!” yelled by a woman and finally silence. After a few seconds they heard the same woman screaming “Stay and live here as the rats you are! Do not even think about coming out because if we see you, we kill you!”.
“Is everyone fine?” Guillem asked.
“I have a few scratches, but I am fine.” Said Maria.
“I have a few scratches too.” Said Lucio. “But we should keep moving.”
“Let's find a way out of here, I cannot stand the smell and the darkness. Since most of you are hurt, we must get out before you get some infection from being down here!” Xavier whispered almost deliriously laying against a wall and holding his stomach.
“Then let's try to find out were we are. We can keep going straight and on the way some of you could help me raise one of those lids to see where we are.” Said Guillem as he turned the flashlight on again, he was very pale.
“And what if we follow the water stream? It must go to the Guaire river. I do not believe anyone would be guarding that place and the worst we might find is a drunken idiot.” Said Maria as she was checking a small, but nasty little wound on the back of her left leg, everyone agreed to her idea.
The group got up and walked very slowly, trying not to make any noise, Guillem stayed at the front of the group with the flashlight in his hand. He could hear many weird sounds through the corridors and saw the odd occasional moving shadow, more than once he believed these were human, but when pointing where he saw them with the flashlight he could find nothing. All of them tried to stay vigilant and as close from each other as possible.
After half an hour walking and following the water stream through ever wider corridors, they finally felt a small breeze which came with an even stronger odour which made Xavier sigh in desperation as tears came to his eyes and they could hear as well the soft sound of a larger water stream.
“It must be the Guaire river! Let's go!” Guillem said visibly excited about finally getting out of that disgusting place.
They finally arrived to the Guaire river, coming out of the drain by one of the tributaries of the river. Guillem immediately went to one of the sides of the river and climbed a small slope. From up there he whispered “Follow me, I know this place!”.
Everyone climbed the slope, as usual Cristobal and Tom were in charge of carrying Roberto's body and then followed a small dirt path on the side of the Guaire, it was still a good couple of meters below the city streets level so they were able to stay easily hidden. The path was just as he remember it, filled with garbage and very narrow, the Guaire odour was getting slightly better as they went upriver, just as he remembered it when he came with his religious group to distribute toys, food and other donations, that was a couple of months ago.
“There it is!,” Guillem said pointing at a bridge crossing above the Guaire a couple dozen meters ahead, the sun was starting to come out so it was not hard to see “below it lives a group of people I know. I came here a few weeks ago to bring some donations from my religious group.”
“So we finally see something good about you belonging to a demonic sect!” Said Cristobal visibly tired, but still trying to smile.
“Good to see you are having fun.”
Everyone else followed him in silence, they could still hear some gun shots and screams coming from the streets just above them.
A couple meters away from the bridge they could finally distinguish a few tiny units built below it using any material scraps they could find, from rusted metal laminates to timber. They could hear children crying from the inside of the units, some of them had a flickering light like the one made by a candle coming through their windows, but most were dark.
“Stay here!” Guillem said as he ran the short distance separating them from the units. “And I mean it! This people do not like intruders.”
As soon as Guillem got under the bridge, he approached a unit that belonged to the family he best got to know the last time he was there and knocked the door to check if somebody was there. He had brought a lot of items for this family, in particular to the children and even shared a meal with them at the time. The family was composed of a single working mother with three children, a 14 year old girl that helped with the smaller children, a 12 year old boy and another one just 5 years old.
“Who is there?” An older feminine voice said from the inside. “There is nothing of value in here. Only me and my children live here, please go away, we do not want any problem.”
“Ms. Ana, This is Guillem. We met sometime ago when me and my religious group came to do a few donations. Please open the door, I need your help.”
A cloth covering one of the windows on the inside moved to a side for a couple of seconds and someone yelled on the inside. “Open the door Wilson! It is Guillem!” the door opened and a short and bony child came out of it and hugged Guillem's leg.
“What did you bring me his time Guillem?” Said the child.
“Come one in! What are you doing here? This is not a good time to be on the street!” Ana said.
“I want to come in, but I have a group of friends waiting close from here. Can they come in too?”
“Of course, you know that my house is tiny, but there is always space for you and your friends in here. Bring them in.”
Guillem went to get the others and guided them to the small unit. As soon as they went in Ana put a thick wooden table blocking the door and left a butcher knife she had in her hand over it.
The unit was barely enough to hold the group. In a corner of the wall opposed to the door was a small table with a tiny electric kitchen and a couple of open packages of harina pan, the kitchen was fed electricity by very thin cable with broken insulation that came through one of the walls. On the same wall, but in the opposite corner there was an old mattress without any bed sheets. On one of the side walls was a slightly larger mattress and on the opposite wall a coffee table with an old television set which had a clothes hanger in the place of the antenna, finally on each side of the door a couple of small tables made of rotten wood. The walls were made of a few rusted metal scraps, but together and it was leaning against a bridge column which doubled as the back wall, the door was a large table attached to a hole in one of the metal laminates and next to it was another square hole which was supposed to be a window, on the outside it had a metal grid welded and on the inside it had a bed sheet as a curtain. The light was produced by a light bulb hanging from the metal scraps composing the ceiling and connected to the same cable that provided energy to the kitchen. There was no bathroom anywhere in the unit.
Ana was a older woman of around 50 years old, very skinny to the point you could see all her ribs, she was wearing a very old and dirty gown. Leslie, was her older daughter, she was short and skinny, very pale, as if sick, but it had always shocked Guillem that she had a look of malice on her eyes that he had only seen on older and ex
perienced woman, she was dressing a dirty gown just like her mother. Wilson was a dark skinned child with African features, obviously son of a different father, the look in his eyes was not so different to that of his sister and finally Truman was the smallest, he was dark skinned as well and still looked like a child with a look of innocence on his face. Wilson and Truman were completely naked.
Cristobal and Tom placed Roberto in one of the beds and Maria, Lucio, Guillem and Xavier sat down in the other, they were finally able to see each other under a more appropriate light and they were covered in a mixture of dirt, faeces and blood. Even under all that dirt Xavier managed to look pale and sick and Maria managed to look sexy as usual.
“What are you guys doing here? This is no place for you.” Ana said. “You should be at home, with your people.”
“We know, we were in the Central University when everything started and we are still trying to get home. We need to rest at least for a couple minutes, we have been through so much in just a few hours.” Guillem answered.
“You guys are going to the east of the city? There are many clashes between Cabristas and the police on that side. Most of the still honest and loyal police is there at this very moment.”
“What do you mean with that? I mean, about the police.” Maria asked.
“Cabrera had bought all the worst elements of the police departments and now have their support. They are covering everything that is happening and trying to frame the people they call the oligarchs about everything they do. An oligarch for them is anyone with money that is not with Cabrera.”
“And why is the army not doing anything?”
“The same, he gained the support of most generals. I guess he had more than a few dirty secrets from his time in the army. The rest is just keeping quiet and waiting.”
“And how do you know all this? I mean, this must be secret and must have been happening from long ago for him to have gained such support.”
“Yes it has. I have heard rumours. Remember that most police officers and soldiers come from the lowest people, a lot of those that are not able to find anything to eat anywhere go and enrol in either the police or the army. I know a lot of them and their families and they have kept us informed.”
“Can we turn on that television?” Maria asked.
“Of course, let's turn it on.” Said Ana as she walked to it.
After a few minutes hitting the television with her hand, Ana managed to get one of the public channels and as it was to be expected there was a news show going on at the moment.
“We keep receiving reports about many violent manifestations all over the country after the first speech from Cabrera. So far it is impossible to know how many casualties there have already been, but the calls keep coming to report missing people.” The news presenter was saying as she showed a live feed from Chacaito where many people were breaking into every store and stealing anything they could find, many shootings could be heard in the background as well. “So here be have Helen with a live interview with one of the Cabristas on the street.”
“Good night mister. What are you doing at this time of the night here in Chacaito with all this insecurity?” Said Helen.
“Taking what is mine. What insecurity? Everything is fine here. Why do your people call insecurity when the my people goes out to reclaim their property and call it justice when the empire does the same?”
“But, how is all that stuff yours?” She asked while pointing at a bag the guy had on his hands and the jewellery he had all over his body.
“It was stolen from the people by the oligarchs you see. They took it from our land, stole my people's labour and now they want all the profit for themselves.”
“But whoever worked in making what you are carrying must have been paid for their job. These are just stores selling merchandise they bought, they had nothing to do with how they were made anyway.”
“All of them are together you see, this is a conspiracy. The USA of America is paying the oligarchs here to steal and abuse my people, they are evil you see.”
“And do you have proof of what you say? I am not even sure I understand what you mean.”
“There is proof you see, Cabrera said he has it, but that he is keeping it hidden from the empire.”
“But even if he has it, it gives you no right no steal, there is a law that you must respect.”
“Law enforced by the USA of America! For the oligarchs!” Said the guy visibly stressed. “My commandant said it and he is right! He said we could get back our stuff! Are you working for the USA of America? Are you an oligarch? Because you sure sound like one! Hey guys! Here we have an oligarch! She works for the USA of America!”
And they saw how a crowd went running toward Helen and her camera crew, they were still filming as they started running away from the mob.
“Well, there seems to be a slight problem with our crew, I am sure our reporter will be fine.” The news presenter said slightly sweaty and nervous. “Now in an exclusive with Cabrera we have Carolina.”
“Good night Mr. Cabrera.” Said Carolina. “What are your thoughts about all the manifestations and crimes people is doing in your name.”
“Crimes? There are no crimes anywhere! That is just a rumour created by the empire! People is just celebrating that now they are in power, they are just partying innocently. Please lady, stop talking like one of those oligarchs, I am sure you are not one of them? Are you?” He said in a very threatening way, but immediately smiled and said. “Just joking.”
Ana turned off the television.
“That guy is crazy, did you know he send his people here to recruit us for this craziness? Most of my neighbours went ahead to support him, I just do not believe him. He even bribed them with red shirts and some beer! I keep telling my kids they have to study and progress by themselves, instead of taking the easy way as most of our neighbours did.”
“That is disgusting,” said Maria “talking about disgusting, is there a place were we could get cleaned up? Even if it is only our faces?”
“Of course, Wilson will show you to the water tank on the outside of the house.”
“First, congratulations for refusing to do something in which you do not believe, but we would better get going immediately, there is no time to clean up.” Guillem said. “Do you have any sort of transportation that you could lend us? Or at least indicate us which is the best way to go?”
“Down in the river we have a small raft which could take you upstream. I guess it is more secure right now to go that way than by using the streets. Here, take this flashlight with you, it will be useful.”
“Thank you.” Guillem said. Roberto started regaining consciousness and complaining so he went immediately to check him out. “Hey buddy. Can you hear me?”
“Yes.” He whispered. “Everything hurts and smells like shit. Is that me? Or Cristobal?”
“Yes brother, all of us are smelly. You are quite hurt as well.” He said laughing. “We still have not been able to take you to a hospital. Come on up, do you think you can walk?”
“Do I have to get up?” He said as he started getting up with Guillem's help.
“Let's get out of here.” Said Guillem. “We need to get you home before you get any worse.”
“All of you look and stink horrible.”
“Do not you think you look any better.” Guillem said laughing.
Everyone said their good byes to Ana and her family and followed the directions she gave them as to how to find the raft. They had to descend by a very narrow path that took them to another very large tributary of the Guaire river and there they found it just next to the water. The raft was very deteriorated with a few broken sections which somebody had been trying to fix with average success, on the side were two poles of at least three meters long each.
“I guess these are to push this thing upriver?” Cristobal asked as he picked up both poles and threw one to Tom.
“Do you think you are up to this with all your wounds?” T
om asked Cristobal.
“You will have to try to keep up with me!”
Between all of them dragged the boat to the main river and placed the poles inside. Everyone went aboard the boat starting with Roberto and finishing with Cristobal, the boat was making some water, but stayed afloat. Tom and Cristobal placed themselves on each side of it and started pushing it upstream with the poles, it moved extremely slow despite their best efforts.
They continued like it for about 30 minutes, it was already well into the morning and was quite clear. All of them were very sleepy so they leaned against the others in the centre of the raft leaving Tom and Cristobal the responsibility of getting them safely upstream.
“What is that?” Xavier asked sitting back up and pointing to an object floating a few meters away.
“Hehe, a ball of shit? I have counted a few dozens already.” Cristobal answered.
“You are disgusting, but no it is not that, wait.” Said Xavier focusing his eyes on the object he saw. “That is... a body! And there is another one! And another!” He said pointing to multiple objects coming down stream. “The river is full of corpses!”
“Fucking animals! Is any of them still moving?”
“I do not thing so, I will keep an eye out to see if we see anyone still alive.”
The group had to make an effort to keep looking at the corpses despite how tired all of them were, trying to find any sign of movement in any of them, it was an insufferable spectacle. Guillem could see how Tom and Cristobal kept staring at the bodies silently, their hands trembling in rage, for a moment he was worried Cristobal was going to break the pole in half with his huge hands.
“Come on Cristobal! Stronger. There is too much daylight already and we do not want to be seen.” Said Tom
Religious Fangs, a novel Page 5