The Victory Dogs

by Megan Rix

  Lieutenant Colonel Richardson had just helped himself when the parrot started squawking.

  ‘Bombs away! Bombs away!’ It flew off its perch and into the top part of the Morrison shelter.

  ‘Quick, get all the animals in with him,’ Mr Ward said.

  ‘Because a parrot’s squawking bombs away?’ Lieutenant Colonel Richardson said, bewildered.

  ‘He’s our early-warning system,’ said Mrs Ward.

  ‘Never been wrong yet,’ Michael told him, picking up the kitten. And right on cue they heard Wailing Winnie, a nickname they’d all come to use for the air-raid siren’s shrill cry.

  ‘Everybody in,’ said Mr Ward. ‘It’ll be a bit of a squeeze, but we’ll manage.’

  ‘Mummy’s po-ppet, Mummy’s po-ppet,’ the parrot squawked in a panic.

  ‘’S all right,’ Mr Ward told him. ‘Keep your hair on.’

  ‘Keep your hair on, keep your hair on,’ the parrot repeated over and over.

  Michael held the kitten close as they listened to the whistle of incendiary bombs followed by the boom as the bombs struck. He counted three, no four, bombs close by.

  The house shook and everything that could fall did fall: the plaster came down from the ceiling and the wall cracked in two. Debris landed in a clatter on top of the Morrison shelter. It was noisy and frightening, but inside the shelter they were safe.

  Chapter 20

  The bomb hit with such force that it knocked Daniel and Howl to the ground. Daniel lay very still and Howl crawled over to him, put his head on his friend’s chest and whined. Daniel didn’t stir.

  On the platform people were thrown on to the railway tracks. The lights immediately went out. For a second or two there was a shocked silence, swiftly followed by screaming and mayhem as people panicked.

  Mrs Dolan took Amy’s and her father’s hand. Mr Dolan switched on the torch he always kept with him for emergencies and soon others did the same. It was hard to tell who’d been injured and how badly they’d been hurt in the blast because it was so dark. People bumped into each other, stumbled and fell. Those nearest the stairs headed towards them, people behind them followed them upwards and soon almost everyone was trying to go up. They shoved each other in their panic to get up the stairs and out.

  ‘Out of my way.’

  ‘Who you shoving?’

  ‘Why aren’t we moving?’

  ‘Get on up there.’

  But the people at the front, who’d gone up the stairs already, soon found the exit was blocked.

  ‘Help, let us out,’ they shouted from behind the rubble. There was no reply.

  Close by, Daniel opened his eyes at last and Howl licked his face. But Daniel barely even felt the lick. All the terror and trauma of being at Dunkirk came crashing down on him; his heart raced and he felt like he couldn’t breathe as his body shook uncontrollably as panic overcame him.

  Howl’s own fear of the bomb was surpassed by his fear for his friend. He whined and paced back and forth, unsure what to do, as Daniel staggered to his feet and made agonizing sounds as he gasped for breath.

  ‘Go, Soldier, leave me,’ Daniel groaned.

  Howl whined again and put his paw out as Daniel sank to his knees. The dog wagged his tail, still unsure, but then he ran for the platform as Daniel collapsed back onto the ground.

  The people at the end of the queue to get up the stairs didn’t at first realize what the hold-up was and were angry it wasn’t moving forward. Then word came back down the platform, in a trickle at first, that there was a problem getting out via the steps. The trickle turned into a torrent as the panic of being trapped in the Underground, with more bombs likely to strike, grew.

  ‘What’s going to happen to us?’

  ‘How are we going to get out?’

  ‘I don’t want to die down here.’

  The panic increased and rose until it was almost unstoppable. Mr Dolan knew that if it were allowed to continue none of them would get out alive.

  ‘Stay calm,’ he shouted to those around him. ‘Keep calm!’

  But most people were too frightened to listen.

  As her eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, Amy saw the dog she’d shared sandwiches with a few weeks ago. She hadn’t seen it since the bomb went off in Swan Street and had presumed it had left the station.

  ‘What’s Misty doing here?’ Amy’s grandfather asked her, noticing Howl too.

  ‘It’s not Misty, Grandpa,’ Amy told him, although the dog did look very similar to Misty in the dark. ‘Hello,’ she said to the dog as she stretched her hand out to him. She didn’t want him to be frightened.

  But Howl didn’t let her touch him; as Amy stepped forward, he backed away a few paces, then stopped and whined. Amy took another two steps towards him and the same thing happened.

  ‘I think he wants us to follow him,’ she said to her family.

  Howl kept checking behind him to make sure Amy was following him as he led her and her mother and father and Grandpa through the disused tunnel to Daniel’s room.

  There was more light there and Amy stopped, unsure what to do when she saw Daniel. He couldn’t stop shaking and had his hands to his throat as he made horrible wheezing sounds. But then Amy’s grandpa stepped forward.

  ‘I’ve seen this before in the Great War,’ he said. ‘It’s shock.’ Daniel was having a panic attack and he needed to slow down his breathing. If he’d had a paper bag, Amy’s grandpa would have given Daniel that to breathe into.

  ‘Here, son, put this over your mouth and breathe into it,’ he said as he pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to Daniel. ‘Slow breaths now. That’s it … Keep them slow.’

  Daniel did as he was told and gradually, as they all watched nervously, his breathing settled.

  ‘Th-thank you,’ he said.

  Amy’s grandpa nodded.

  ‘What are we going to do now?’ Amy asked. To her surprise, it was Daniel who spoke next.

  ‘Out, Soldier, out,’ he said to Howl. It was the word Daniel used when they were going to the park.

  ‘If anyone can find a way out of this station, he can,’ Daniel explained.

  There are many parts of Underground stations that most people never get to see: disused pipes and tunnels, platforms that are shut off, even stairways that are no longer used.

  Howl had lived in Wood Green Underground his whole life and he knew every inch of it. Although some parts – the ‘people’ parts – he rarely went into unless there was no one about.

  The station being plunged into darkness didn’t matter to Howl. He could find his way just as easily whether it was light or dark. First he headed back out to the platform.

  Mr Dolan motioned to the family who had been sitting next to them and explained that the skinny dog might be able to find a way out. Quickly word spread down the platform. Then the family beside that family followed too and soon Howl was leading all the people along the disused rail track and through the secret passages and tunnels of the station.

  At last, the all-clear siren went off. Michael and the others crawled out of the Morrison shelter and ran to the front door. The bombs had seemed so close, closer and more violent than ever before.

  ‘I’ll stay behind and see to the animals,’ Mrs Ward said. There was dust and plaster everywhere, but judging from the loud racket the animals were making she didn’t think any of them were too badly hurt.

  ‘Hush now,’ she said. ‘Hush now, you’re all right.’

  ‘Hush now, hush now,’ the parrot repeated after her.

  Sky ran to the front door after the rest of them.

  ‘No, Sky, not you. You can’t
go,’ Mrs Ward told her. Sky whined, but Mrs Ward shook her head. ‘Not today.’ She couldn’t risk Sky’s paw getting even more injured than it already was.

  Lieutenant Colonel Richardson was already at the door. Michael took Henry with them.

  ‘Be careful,’ Mrs Ward said as she held on to Sky’s collar.

  ‘We will.’

  At first, the damage didn’t seem too bad, but when they turned the corner of the road that led to the station they could only stare in horror. Wood Green wasn’t even recognizable as a station any more. It looked like it had imploded on itself. The curved front of the station was crushed and flattened.

  The first of the fire engines raced past them, bells clattering. An ambulance followed close behind. And behind that came a Women’s Voluntary Service van with blankets and food.

  When they reached the station, coughing because of all the smoke, Michael stopped and stared, aghast.

  ‘Do you think … anyone’s …’ He couldn’t say it aloud. He knew that Amy and her family often sheltered in the Underground station. Lieutenant Colonel Richardson squeezed his shoulder.

  But could anyone have survived the blast? The bomb had caused catastrophic damage. The station looked like a tower of building bricks that had been toppled over and now lay in a haphazard and confused mess, spilling its contents across the road.

  Chapter 21

  Howl stopped and everyone behind him stopped too. The exit via the pig bins, which should have been ahead of them, was totally blocked by debris. But Howl had noticed a strange sound too, one that he’d never heard before. By the time other people heard the creak there wasn’t time to get away.

  With a mighty crash a steel casing over the back staircase gave way, sending soot, wet earth, sludge and other debris down in front of them, blocking the path ahead. Amy’s family were at the front and so were Daniel and Howl, and they bore the brunt. Daniel suddenly realized that he could no longer see Howl.

  ‘Soldier,’ he cried. ‘Soldier.’

  The soot and wet earth was up to a man’s knees. More than enough to suffocate a dog if it came tumbling down on him.

  ‘Soldier,’ Daniel bellowed, and this time it was more the desperate cry of an animal than a man.

  Over and over he dug his hands deep into the wet earth and Amy, her grandpa and mum and dad did too.

  But then Daniel heard a small sound coming from one of the bins. In an instant he had waded through the mud to reach his dog.

  ‘Good Soldier, at ease, Soldier,’ he said as he pulled a smelly, mud- and soot-covered Howl from the top of an overflowing pig bin that had probably saved his life.

  Howl licked the mud on his friend’s face and Daniel laughed as he hugged Howl’s muddy, wet but still warm body to him.

  ‘Out, Soldier,’ Daniel said again. ‘Out.’ He knew they had no time to lose. The station was clearly unstable and could collapse around them at any moment.

  Howl sent out little mud sprays as he wagged his mud-encased tail. He wanted to go out, but their exit was blocked by the sludge. They’d have to go back the way they’d come. But that way was blocked by the people crowding in from the tunnel behind them.

  All of these people were frightened near to panic, and many were not even quite sure what had happened because of the darkness and being further away.

  Beside the ledge, up on the wall where Sheba used to watch from, there was a hole with a twisted metal grating in front of it. Howl barked up at it.

  Mr Dolan pulled the grating away and looked into the hole. It was filled with rubble, but he could just make out a small gleam of daylight at the end of it.

  Howl whined and Mr Dolan stepped back as Daniel lifted the dog into the tunnel hole. Howl crawled on his belly through the dust and debris to the light. He could hear voices ahead of him and then he heard a bark he recognized and crawled faster.

  Amy was helped into the hole and crawled behind Howl, but there wasn’t enough space for her to get as far along as the dog had been able to. She was trapped in a narrow space with debris all around her and dust choking her.

  Outside the tunnel that Howl and Amy had gone down there was another ominous creaking sound. But there was nothing anyone could do and nowhere for them to run.

  ‘This way!’

  Michael ran down Lordship Lane and up Berners Lane and into Hardy Passage to reach the back of the station. Here the bomb damage, although still terrible, wasn’t quite so bad as at the front. Henry suddenly raced towards one particular spot of rubble and started pawing at it and whining. Then he began to dig at the rubble so frantically that his paws got cut on the sharp brick edges that had come falling down as the station walls collapsed.

  ‘No, Henry!’ Michael said when he saw the blood coming from Henry’s cut pads. ‘No more digging.’ He didn’t want Henry’s paws getting infected.

  Just at that moment they heard it: a long drawn-out mournful howl coming from under the ground.

  All at once they started lifting away the rubble where Henry had dug. Henry whined and tried to do what Michael said, waiting for the rubble to be cleared. But then the howl came again and Henry couldn’t wait any longer. He tore and scratched at the rubble, then looked up at Michael and wagged his tail.

  Everyone now helped to remove the debris. Mr Ward and Lieutenant Colonel Richardson made them form a line and they passed it along to each other, moving it away from the damaged site so as not to cause a cave-in. As more rubble was removed, they heard a girl’s voice shout.

  ‘We’re down here!’

  ‘Amy?’ Michael shouted back.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to get you out.’ But Michael knew they were all in great danger of the station collapsing from under them, trapping Amy and the other people inside, or worse, crushing them.

  The rubble removal quickened and a few minutes later Henry started running backwards and forwards excitedly. Then he began barking and when they looked they could see why – a soot- and mud-covered nose was poking out. And soon it wasn’t just a nose, it was Howl. At last, helped by the slipperiness of the mud that coated and soaked his fur, he was able to wriggle himself out.

  Howl was not a pretty sight and he definitely didn’t smell sweet either, but Henry was overjoyed to see him. The brothers’ tails wagged and they sniffed and licked each other’s faces.

  Amy pushed against the rubble, sending stones and cement flying as she forced her way after Howl. The dust stung her eyes so much she could barely see as tears ran down her face. The rough masonry tore into her skin, but she pushed on and then suddenly she wasn’t pushing; she wasn’t feeling anything but air.

  ‘I’m here, I’m here,’ she cried. She felt a hand grab hers.

  ‘You’re all right, you’re going to be all right,’ Michael said.

  They removed more rubble from the ventilation access tunnel and Amy was able to crawl out.

  Then the firemen and the civilian defence came with their equipment and made the NARPAC group move out of the way as they dug downwards and one by one more people, an endless line of people, crawled out of the rubble and into the fresh air.

  Amy threw her arms round Michael when she saw him and he hugged her back, not caring that she was covered in smelly mud. He was just so glad his friend was alive.

  ‘If it wasn’t for that dog!’ Amy said. She could barely think straight, but she still wanted to tell Michael what had happened. As she spoke, mud slipped into her mouth and she wiped it away. ‘We followed him …’

  ‘That’s twice Misty’s saved me,’ said Amy’s grandfather as he was helped out of the tunnel to the surface by Michael from in front and Daniel from
behind.

  The old man blinked as he saw Henry and Howl playing together among the rubble. ‘Two Mistys?’ he said.

  ‘Misty isn’t here, Grandpa,’ Amy told him. Neither of the two dogs had Misty’s distinctive cream-coloured fur. Henry’s was tan and white and the other dog – well, it was quite hard to know exactly what he looked like under all that mud and soot. The dogs’ body shapes and ears did look similar, but the second dog was slighter than Henry was.

  ‘Look at those two,’ Michael grinned as he watched Henry and Howl playing together. ‘You’d think they’d known each other for years rather than just met.’

  ‘That’s dogs for you,’ said Lieutenant Colonel Richardson. It was one of the many reasons he liked working with them so much. ‘None of the fuss and suspicions of people, just a quick sniff and they’re friends for life.’

  Daniel had been quiet until that moment, but he wanted Amy and Michael to know the truth.

  ‘They’re brothers,’ he said from behind them. ‘Born in the Underground at the start of the Blitz.’

  ‘But what was Misty doing down in the Underground?’ Amy’s grandfather said loudly as a WVS lady handed him a cup of sweet tea.

  ‘It isn’t Misty, Grandpa,’ Amy said. ‘They’re boys for a start!’

  Daniel overheard her. ‘Their mother was called Misty,’ he said. ‘Soldier’s got her collar on round his neck. Bark and Howl – that’s what I liked to call them when they were puppies. But then Bark disappeared one day.’

  ‘I found him and took him home,’ said Michael. ‘But we call him Henry now.’

  Amy went over to Howl, who was now sitting with Henry and watching the proceedings. It was hard to even tell that he was wearing a collar or had an ID disc round his neck because of all the mud.

  ‘Hello, Howl,’ she said, crouching down. Amy reached out to look at the name tag on his collar, then sat back on her heels in shock. ‘Misty,’ she murmured.

  Amy looked over at Daniel. ‘She ran away on the first night of the Blitz. I looked and looked for her. But I never thought to look inside the Underground.’