by Chesla, Gary
Lilly held up her hand.
Shaun smiled. “Yes, Lilly?”
“Up near the cabin there are two guards up on the wall. I crawled under their platform when I came down here.” Lilly said.
“OK, we need to be quiet when we’re crawling along the wall.” Shaun said, then he looked at Lisa. “Lisa, do you still have your ball cap?”
“It’s in my bag.” She replied.
“Better cover up your blonde hair.” Shaun said looking around nervously. “We better get moving in case Bill gets impatient and sends someone to get us before two o’clock.”
Shaun and Megan took one last look around the room. Their feelings were conflicted. Their little cottage had represented the best and the worst of their world. It represented safety and horror, their best hope for life and their worst fears come true. It had been their escape from the terrors of the world and now was a death trap of deception. They felt sadness at the loss of the promise it had held for them only a few days ago.
Shaun blew out the candle and led everyone to the door. They slid around to the back of the cabin. Shaun put his arm around Megan’s shoulder and squeezed Lilly against their front side. “Lilly, follow our lead and walk with us. If you stay close, it will look like I’m just walking Meg to the outhouse. I walk her up here every night. If anyone sees us, hopefully it won’t seem unusual and they won’t pay any attention to us.”
They started walking. Lilly looked around feeling nervous being out in the open after all the time she had tried so hard to stay out of sight.
She breathed easier when they had ducked into the shadow near the fort’s twelve foot tall wall.
They got down on the ground and started to crawl. After twenty feet, Shaun looked back over his shoulder to check on Doug and Lisa. They had just run into the shadows along the wall and should be on their way.
Shaun led Megan and Lilly slowly along the wall. The camp fires lit the outer fort with a soft glow. Shaun could see the look outs, scattered around the fort. The look outs were all looking out into the darkness, waiting to see something that would alert them to the biker’s presence. If they continued to stare outward, Shaun’s group would have a good chance to reaching cottage undetected. It was the guards on the wall of the inner fort that could pose the most danger. Shaun and the group had to crawl between the guards and the wall they were watching.
Shaun whispered instructions to stay low, as they started forward.
They crawled until they were fifty feet away from the watch platform. Shaun held out his hand, signaling Megan and Lilly to stop. He started to move backwards.
When he got back to Megan, she asked. “Why are we stopping?”
“Look up at the platform.” Shaun replied. “One of the guys who is supposed to be watching outside of the wall is sitting on the platform looking down into the fort.” Shaun said.
“Maybe he is bored? Are we just going to wait here?” She asked.
“We can’t move around with him up there like that. We have to wait. See if you can feel a rock or something. If he doesn’t turn around soon, maybe I can toss a rock over the wall and make him look over to see what made the noise.” Shaun answered.
They carefully felt around, keeping an eye on the guards.
Lilly tapped Megan on the arm. When Megan looked at her, Lilly handed her a baseball size stone.
“Thanks Lilly.” Megan whispered.
“Shaun, here Lilly found a stone.” Megan whispered.
“Thanks, I’m going to wait for a few minutes before I throw it. One of the guards might see me moving around to throw the stone. Let’s give him a few minutes to see if he gets back to work before we try the stone.” Shaun whispered back.
They laid in the shadows and waited. Shaun’s patience had just about reached its limit when they heard a sound from the other side of the fort. A loud crash was followed by a sudden “Whoosh!”
They turned to look across the fort where they had heard the sound and saw the flames starting to rise above the front wall.
They heard another crash, followed by another “Whoosh!” This time the sounds had come from the front gate that led into the fort. Flames started to spread across the gate and high into the air above the gate.
Shaun looked at Megan. “Those bikers are back. It looks like they took time to work out a plan this time instead of just trying to rush the fort again.”
“What should we do? You think we should still try to get out of the fort with them out there?” Megan whispered.
“I don’t think we have any choice. Let’s keep moving.” Shaun whispered.
Crash! Whoosh! Crash! Whoosh! Crash! Whoosh! Shaun listened to three more sounds and began to look around to see what part of the fort the bikers had attacked now. He looked to see that flames were now rising into the air above the wall at the back of the fort. Flames also began to rise above the wall back down near where he and Megan’s cottage had stood.
Shaun looked around. He had heard the three smashing sounds of the Molotov cocktails the gang was using to attack the old wooden fort. He heard the bursting sound of the glass and the whooshing sound that followed as the gasoline ignited and the flames quickly spread outward following the gas and fumes. But he could only see two more places where fires had started to burn, as flames gained a foot hold into the old dry wooden posts.
Suddenly Shaun looked out past the edge of the shadows where they were hiding. At the ends of the shadow, light started to dance and flicker as it lighted the yard inside the fort past the end of the shadow. He quickly turned his head and looked at the top of the wall above him. Flames were beginning to rise from the pointed post tops as the fire grew rapidly as it burnt into and ignited the dry wood.
The guys standing watched, jumped down off the platforms and began running towards the water pump and the buckets of water that had been filled, ready to be used for this very emergency.
Shaun turned back towards Megan and Lilly who were looking around the fort, mesmerized by the sight of the flames against the dark sky.
Shaun stood and pulled Megan to her feet. When Doug saw Shaun stand, he pulled Lisa up off the ground. Shaun shouted. “Let’s run while everyone is busy with the fires. We may not have much more time!”
They ran along the wall, pausing behind each cottage to study the way ahead.
They ran from cabin to cabin and finally reached the final cottage, cottage number 4.
Shaun eased around the corner of the wall and opened the door. He stood watch as Megan Lilly, Doug and Lisa slipped inside.
Shaun scanned the fort. The hundred year old wooden posts that made up the walls, quickly caught fire. There wasn’t enough men or buckets to cover all the fires. They tried to spread the water around to as many fires as they could. It wasn’t enough. If they would have concentrated on one fire, they would have been OK, with that one fire. But the rest of the fires would have quickly burned out of control. Their attempt to cover all the fires resulted in all the fires burning out of control. The old wooden walls caught quickly and flames began to spread around the fort. By the time Shaun and his group reached the cabin, flames were burning brightly from the entire outer wall. With the old dry wood that made up the walls, Shaun doubted the walls would remain standing more than another twenty minutes before they began to collapse.
As Shaun went into the cabin to join the others, he saw another flaming Molotov cocktail come flying over his head and slam into the inner fort wall. The gutter system quickly extinguished the flames. Shaun felt a brief feeling of satisfaction knowing his system worked.
As he was closing the door, he saw another flaming object fly over the back wall, the wall that was the closest to the inner fort. The object cleared the inner walls, Shaun couldn’t hear the sound of it landing because of the loud crackling sounds coming from the fires on the outer wall. But he saw the flames rise up inside the inner fort as the door closed.
“Those bikers must be using every last drop of gas they have left on the fort tonight
.” Shaun said as he grabbed the bed and began to slide it away from the wall and over in front of the door. “I hope this trap door is here. If not, it’s going to start getting pretty warm in here very soon.”
After sliding the bed away from the wall, they all got down on their hands and knees and began feeling around on the floor.
“I can’t find anything?” Megan called out.
“Keep looking.” Doug called back.
They all searched for another few minutes without anyone finding anything.
Lilly screamed as the little window by the front door of the cottage shattered, sending glass flying throughout the room.
Flames started to pour into the cottage, filling the room with smoke.
“I see it!” Doug shouted as he looked at the floor now lighted by the flames coming in through the window. The flames began to spread across the ceiling of the small room.
“I see the outline of the trap door, but I can’t get my fingers into the crack to pry up the trap door.” Doug called out.
Shaun quickly took off his pack and fished out the little pan he carried to heat food over the camp fire. He rushed over to Doug’s side and pushed at the crack with the metal handle of the pan. After a couple attempts, the door rose out of the floor a few inches. Doug jammed his hand into the opening and began to pull the door up out of the floor. Shaun dropped the pan and helped Doug lift the trap door up and away from the tunnel opening. They leaned the heavy door against the wall.
Megan looked down the hole. “It’s dark down there. How are we going to see?”
Shaun shoved the pan back into his pack and pulled out one of the last two butane lighters that he had left, from his pack.
“I’ll go first. Meg next, Lilly, Lisa and Doug you bring up the rear. Hang on to the person in front of you. I’ll guide us through using the lighter to see.”
Shaun lit the lighter and looked down into the dark opening. A four step ladder led to the bottom of the hole, where another hole opened in the direction away from the fort. Shaun climbed to the bottom. He held the lighter as Megan climbed down after him.
“The rest of you will have to come down in the dark. There isn’t enough room for me to stay here and hold the lighter.” Shaun turned and began to crawl through the other opening and into the tunnel. The tunnel was a three foot square hole that angled down and in the direction of the back wall and the town. Every few feet boards and short posts had been set up to support the ceiling and keep the tunnel from caving in. Shaun hoped they wouldn’t get in the tunnel and find out it had collapsed halfway under the fence. Megan grabbed Shaun’s heel to follow him into the tunnel. Soon Lilly had her hand on Megan’s leg.
Shaun moved slowly for another ten feet. He stopped and called back. “Doug, are you back there?”
“I’m here.” Doug shouted back. “Keep moving. Burning ashes and smoke are falling into the hole behind me. My legs are burning and it’s getting hard to breathe back here.”
Shaun lit the lighter again and moved forward. They crawled through the dusty tunnel for ten minutes before Shaun began to breathe fresh air.
He turned his head and spoke softly back into the tunnel.
“I think we are near the opening. Stay quiet until I can get a look outside. Meg, keep everyone here. Give me a minute to get closer to the opening and see if it is clear.”
“OK.” She whispered and let go of Shaun’s heel.
Shaun crawled another fifteen feet before the tunnel ended. Shaun looked up to see a dim light coming through about thirty little round holes. He felt around until he found another ladder. He began to climb. He counted ten steps until he was at the source of the little lights. He lifted his hand and felt the heavy metal of a manhole cover.
He pushed with his hands, but the cover didn’t budge. He steadied his feet on the last step of the ladder and placed his back against the lid.
He pushed and the lid slowly rose. He angled his back and slid the lid to the side of the opening.
He took a minute to catch his breath before he began to cautiously stick his head out of the hole to look around.
He was amazed at how far they had traveled underground. He had expected to come up right on the other side of the wall. He had worried he would be sticking his head up in the middle of hot flames or crazy bikers. The tunnel went a lot further. It had continued under the street behind the fort and he found himself behind some bushes near the back of some houses. The people who dug the tunnel had spent a lot of time and had done a nice job.
Shaun thought. “Maybe when the first men came to the fort for protection and began to create a Safe Zone, first for themselves, then for the other survivors around town. Their intentions might have been good and honorable. If the work put into the escape tunnel was any indication, a lot of thought and effort might have been put into making the fort a place where people could come to escape the dead and get a fresh start on life.
Maybe the intentions at the fort started out as good, but certainly hadn’t ended that way. But no one knows what they would do, until they are the ones confronted with an impossible choice under horrific conditions. If Shaun had been in their shoes, what decision would he have made? Certainly not the one Bill and his friends had made.
Shaun then had another thought. Maybe he was just giving Bill and his friends too much credit. Maybe they never had any intention of creating a Safe Zone for the people in town. Maybe they came here to protect themselves without any thought given to anyone else’s safety. The fact that others came to the fort for protection wasn’t something that was planned. It just sort of happened. George said only a few people knew about the tunnel. Maybe the tunnel was so Bill and his friends could escape if anything got out of control, leaving everyone else to fend for themselves. What Bill and his friends did to the people that came to the fort looking for help, seemed to support Shaun’s second possibility.
“I guess I’ll never really know.” Shaun thought to himself. Even though Shaun always tended to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and think the best of people, he had a hard time doing that in this case.
Shaun raised his head a little further. He could see the sky glowing from the fires at the fort. He was between two houses. One on his left and one on his right. He looked down between the two houses, across the street, across the field that separated the street and houses from the fort, and saw the wall totally engulfed in flames.
He crawled out of the hole and moved towards the front of the houses. The flames brightly lit up the street. It looked clear of any movements.
Shaun crawled to the back of the houses, the shadows of the houses danced across the street as the flames flared above the fort’s walls, casting the moving shadows of the houses on the back street.
Shaun went back to the tunnel and climbed down the hole to the others. He lit his lighter so they could see. “It looks clear up there right now. There are about ten steps to get out the other end. We have to climb it in the dark. We can’t use any lights from here on out. I think we should go out the opening and go back away from the fort a few blocks and try to find a place to hold up for the night. This fire is going to draw the dead from miles around. It’s not safe to travel at night. It’s probably going to be even more dangerous around here tonight. Once we get out, stay quiet and close together.”
Shaun led them to the ladder and one by one they climbed to the top. They started to follow the street away from the fort. The area behind the fort had a few houses scattered lightly around the small streets. The tightly packed streets that made up the heart of Ligonier didn’t begin for another four or five blocks.
Shaun led them back about three streets. It seemed to be far enough away from the fort to be safe from whatever was going on now at the fort. It also seemed to be far enough away from the heart of Ligonier to remain safely hidden from whatever was lurking there.
Megan grabbed Shaun’s arm and pointed at a brick house that sat across the street from where they stood.
“It do
es look familiar, doesn’t it?” Shaun said as he put his arm around Megan and squeezed. “You want to check it out?” She looked up and gave him a sad smile.
They walked over to the house and stepped over the door that was lying out in the middle of the porch.
They slowly moved through the house and made their way up to the second floor. The house had been ransacked and was now empty. It was also quiet.
After they had determined the house was clear and decided this is where they would stay for the night, Shaun and Doug did their best to set the front door back in its frame. They moved an old porch swing against the door to add support. It wasn’t much, but they hoped it would offer some protection to keep intruders out of the house. If nothing else, the noise of the door falling back into the house would serve as an alarm to warn them someone or something had come into the house.
After they were finished with the door, Shaun suggested they go upstairs and look for a way into the attic.
It was the safest place in the house he could think for them to stay for the night.
After finding the attic, Shaun helped them all get up into the attic and secure the trap door.
Shaun lit the lighter so they could find a spot to make themselves comfortable for the night.
Doug and Lisa found their place.
Shaun and Megan found a spot big enough for them and Lilly. After what she had been through, they wanted to keep her close so she would feel safe.
No one talked. They all felt dazed by all that had taken place. So much had happened in a matter of a few hours.
Their emotions had been subjected to an extreme sadistic game of tug of war. The thrill of finding safety, security, comfort and peace. The horror of betrayal and deception. One minute they were safe and felt part of a group. They worked to help the group and felt comfort that the group would be there when they needed help. The next minute they find out that they were going to be killed and eaten. Then the attack on the fort in the middle of the night. Seeing the place that had given them hope, on fire and burning down around them.