The Fifth

by K. D Rawlingson

  He had been handling this so much better than me. He was a tough little boy, but I wanted to do better, I wanted to be tough for him. Thomas hadn't really cried apart from the night I had told him. We had spoken about Ryan with everything we had done. When we played games, we chatted about how daddy would always like to be the car in monopoly or how he cheated at cards but was never able to beat Thomas at snakes and ladders, we had picked Ryan's favourite movie marathons, back to the future then toy story and shriek, we had made popcorn and cooked Ryan's favourite foods. Looking at my boy asleep next to me I began to realise that maybe we had been holding our own goodbye after all, that I would never get over losing Ryan and still needed time to grieve, but laying here I had two choices, I could stay like this battered from the pain inside me or I could get up and fight, be strong.

  I was choosing to fight!

  To be Strong or at least stronger.

  After destroying the skybox and not hearing what was happening out in the world for the last few days I needed to see.

  I needed to be doing more. Ryan had always been so strong I hadn't realized how much he had carried us all. But I had to do the heavy lifting now. I had to do better, had to get my sorry arse out of bed and out this house, be the woman Ryan would have been proud of, a mother Thomas could count on.

  The last time I had heard any news from the outside had been just before I had ripped the sky cable out and smashed my mobile up, since then it had been like a news free zone. Seeing the families of victims who had lost their lives and been caught up in the devastation, watching all the other families going through the same turmoil as I was, seeing those people lose their entire lives, homes, and families, it had all been too much. I could not just sit there watching it.

  I now know any other normal person wouldn’t have gone to those lengths of smashing it all up or if they did at least have left the phone so their brother could contact them! but I hadn’t been in the right frame of mind. I had needed something to pound and smash, something to take my anger out on. How bloody silly of me as now I needed to prepare myself for going outside and I needed to know how Sol was.

  I wanted to have more of an understanding what it was like outside and I had no other way then venturing into the unknown. I had woken up this morning and had a purpose, get strong for Thomas. Survive. With that purpose had also brought some clarity and I could see what a stupid thing losing my temper had been.

  However, the people of the world were going to fix the problem caused by the sinkholes, earthquakes and see to whatever the outbreak killing them was, they first had to know what was causing it all. Probably global warming we had been warned about this kind of shit happening for years but whatever it was it was not a quick fix solution thing.

  After what I seen on the news, a few days in and everything already looked like it was going to shit, especially in towns and cities where there were more people.

  I had been stupid, I had been too caught up in my grief to see the bigger picture. I had cut myself off from the world like I always did and now had no idea if things had got better or worse, I was suspecting worse.

  I'd had no visitors for the last two days so, had no one to ask. I had to start thinking smart, last, I knew our little village was not doing too bad, yes, we had our very own sinkhole but nearly everybody had been evacuated in and around that area and I had to hope that was still the case. I needed to stock up on food and water I was already nearly a week behind people, I had to start thinking what was the worst that could happen so I knew how to prepare.

  With a plan forming in my mind I got up, took a shower and got dressed next, I was going to make a list. I would have to make the journey into the main town 20 odd miles away. I needed to know what I was going to need before I got there. I didn't want to be running around like a headless chicken not knowing what to buy, what was important.

  I walked into my bedroom to wake Thomas but he was already up and he was standing looking at something out the window “What u looking at little man?”

  “Mummy they're scary people riding around on motorbikes outside and they have guns.”

  "Guns? What are you talking about darling" I approached the window to see what Thomas was looking at when all of a sudden, I heard gunshots, grabbing Thomas I ducked under the window.

  “Stay down darling do not get up.” I peeked out the curtains and saw at least five or six men, head to toe in leather, riding about on motorbikes, just down the street shooting big fuck off guns in the air, while more people ran about in the road carrying weapons.

  Where the hell had they got guns from? Were things really that bad out there?

  I couldn't help but noticed a man down the street, he was massive, probably pushing toward seven-foot-tall with dark hair in a ponytail, he had a black beard and what looked to be a scarf around his neck covering his mouth, some army type jacket and trousers on.

  I had no idea if he was part of the group but he did look really pissed off and seemed to be shouting at someone but I couldn't see who it was as their back was to me or hear them over the roaring of the engines. All I could see was the massive man and how angry he looked to be, he was waving his arms about then suddenly stopped and shoved a big fuck off gun maybe a shotgun in the other man’s face.

  The man with the gun in his face didn't look to be part of whatever motorcycle gang had come here, he had an ordinary pair of jeans and a t-shirt on maybe trainers or pumps, I couldn't see only that they were white. I told Thomas to stay there and rushed downstairs as quietly as I could to make sure all the doors were lock and the curtain were still closed and raced back upstairs to where Thomas was still crouched down, he was laid on the floor under the window. I ducked down when I entered the room and crawled on my hands and knees.

  “Hey baby you ok?” I whispered.

  “Mum what's going on I'm scared.”

  "Shhhh little man it's alright, do you want to play a game?" He nodded eagerly making me smile despite what was going on outside.

  “Do you remember the game about lava on the ground and that we couldn't touch the floor? Well, this game is like that only we have to pretend we are in a Tunnel and we must crawl or we will bump our heads, look I found some treasure can you see it?”

  I grabbed my diamond earrings off the dresser next to us, the ones Ryan had got me for our first anniversary and showed them to Thomas. Knowing Thomas had a thing about dragons and had been watching program after program over the last few weeks I used that to help gain his interest and distract him from what was happening outside.

  “A naughty dragon wants them for himself, the dragon and his bad guy friends are looking for the treasure, we must be really quiet, if we can hide from them, they can't get our treasure. Once they have gone we will go on an adventure, would you like that?”

  Thomas nodded enthusiastically. We crawled from my bedroom into Thomas’s room at the back of the house.

  "Right little man we need a bag to put our treasure in can you find me one?" In my head, I was starting to panic what was I going to do? I hadn't got further than pack some essentials and get the hell out of here as quickly and as quietly as possible but where was I going to go? The car was on the drive so I couldn't get away without anybody seeing me and even if I could I had no idea of where we would go. I couldn't call the police as I had no phone FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! I screamed under my breath.

  Why, had I been so stupid? Why had I let anger get the better of me, I had no way of contacting anybody.

  “Mummy I found a bag.”

  “Good boy darling let’s pop some clothes in.” As I was packing his bag full of clothes I heard another gun go off more than once.

  "I need to you to stay here and find Berty bear we don't want to leave him here while we go off on our adventure but make sure you stay quiet." I crawled back to my bedroom and peeked out the window, a scream shut off in my throat the man who'd had a gun in his face was lying dead in the middle of the street, he was lying in a pool of blood and there was another
man dead across from him. Two men shot in broad daylight what the hell was going on?

  I had no idea but one of the men lying dead looked to be part of the gang riding about, he had a gun in his hand, was covered in leathers with a red scarf tied around his arm. As I studied the other men I noticed most of them were wearing a red scarf or rag around their upper left arm. There looked to be about two or three men that had no banding on and they were standing about watching the massive man with the shotgun, I noticed he didn't have a red band on either. Watching what they were doing the massive man that had been shouting and presumably killed the others walked over to a motorbike. Not knowing too much about bikes I couldn't say for sure what it was but if I had to guess it looked like an old triumph or something with the long silver handlebars, he picked up a bottle or can of some kind and walk back to the two dead men and started pouring whatever was in it all over them.

  No, surely not... it wasn't what I thought it was? Was it? It fucking was.

  The massive man grabbed something out his pocket and threw it at the dead men confirming my thoughts. All of a sudden, they lit up like a bonfire. I couldn't believe what I was looking at! No way had I just witnessed this, not only had they just killed two men but now they were being burnt in the middle of the street.

  What the hell was happening outside? Why hadn't anybody else done something, anything?

  I couldn't comprehend why the massive man had just done that, they were quite obviously dead, one was lying in a pool of blood the other had a big hole in his head where his brain had once been. Why would you then burn the bodies? These were some sick bastards. What was I going to do now? There was no way I was letting Thomas anywhere near them and the car was near them so that vetoed the getting out of here plan, maybe if we were really quiet they would just go away, somehow, I doubted that.

  Knowing there was a chance I was going to need to protect Thomas and myself if anybody tried to get in the house I crawled into Thomas’s room, Bert the dog was curled up next to Thomas and Bert the Teddy-bear. Thankfully he hadn't barked at the sound of gunshots, he was a clever dog that Bert.

  “Well done darling good thinking getting both berths.”

  Still trying to keep Thomas occupied I kept up the game we were playing.

  "Right little man I am going to make sure the coast is clear and go make some magic potions to defeat the bad guys I need you to stay here with both Berts and guard the treasure, keep a look out for that naughty dragon can you do that?" Noticing Thomas's play sword sticking out the toy box I handed it to him. "Here darling take this and stay as quiet as you can ok?" he nodded at me, I kissed his head, looked at Bert and told him to stay guard and watch Thomas

  “Mum don't worry about me I’ve got my sword.” I smiled at him put my fingers to my lips to remind him to stay quiet and left to go get some protection.

  I crept downstairs and crawled along the hall to the kitchen. Thankful the kitchen was at the back of the house and I could move about more freely. I went straight to the knife drawer and picked the sharpest one I could find. I wrapped the sharp end in a tea towel with the handle sticking out the top and put it behind my back in my jeans. I had to be careful that it didn't cut me but so it was easy to get to the handle and pull it free if I needed to. I put another smaller one in my sock, I took out 3 more and laid them on the side.

  I then when to the spices cupboard and pick out the cayenne pepper. I looked under the sink and found an old spray bottle it still had a bit of bleach cleaner in the bottom which I left in, I then poured the jar of dried chilli powder into the part empty spray bottle and filled it up with vinegar and water and placed it next to the knives, next I went in search of the weed killer.

  Ryan had brought something a few years ago that was like a blow torch but it had butane gas can with it instead of propane gas, which means it burns at a lower temperature and you can use it to burn your weeds away. Ryan had had great fun with it for all of twenty minutes then had said it took too long and would be easier if he done the job by hand. He then turned it off and put it in the back of the cupboard, under the sink saying maybe I could use it. I could definitely use it now. It might be slow to burn weeds always but it would still melt somebody's face.

  Thanking Ryan and his love of man stuff I grab the touch and the two remaining cans that had come with it and placed them with the knives and spray bottle on the kitchen counter. God knows how I knew how to do all this G.I joe stuff? I must be going into autopilot as I had no idea how I knew what I was doing, only I was going to protect my boy at all cost. I grab two of the knives and crawled into the front room. I hid the weapons, one behind the cushion on the sofa and the other down the side of the armchair. I saw my dog walking boots next to the chair, I knew they would be heavy when I was crawling about but they would be better than bare feet if I needed run and much better if I needed to kick someone. I put them on and then crawled back to the kitchen, grabbed the weed killer and the two cans, the homemade pepper spray and the remaining knife and crawled back upstairs. Just before I got to Thomas's bedroom I slid the remaining knife up my sleeve I didn't want to scare him and seeing me carrying a knife would have scared him for sure, hopefully the blowtorch, on the other hand, I could pass off, Thomas was sitting next to his bed when I crawled in.

  "Hey, darling how's it going? You ok?"

  “Yes, mum we’re good.”

  “Look what I've got?” I said handing Thomas my homemade pepper spray. “Now this is a very special potion Thomas, it will blind whoever you spray it on, bad guys, even a Dragon and you can get away. But, you must be very careful because if you get it on yourself it will sting and it will really hurt you.”

  Worrying he might hurt himself I second guessed myself, was this really ok giving a seven-year-old a bottle of pepper spray. An image of what I had just witnessed splayed across my vision and I stopped worrying so much about what Thomas could do to himself and concentrated on what others would do to him, I wasn’t taking any chances if something happen I needed Thomas to be able to get away and this was the best I could do with what I had. I went over to Thomas's draws and pulled out a pair of blue gloves they had the fingers missing but were better than nothing. “Here darling pop these on, they will help protect you against the potion you have just in case it spills.”

  "Wow, mum thanks."

  “Remember Thomas you must only spray it at dragons and bad guys ok?”

  “Ok Mum.”

  Right, now we have our potions I’m just going to see if the coast is clear are you ok protecting the treasure still?”

  “Of course, I am I have my potion mum, remember!”

  I slapped my hand on my head as if I had forgot. "Oh yeah silly me, I will be right back and Thomas..." "Yes, mummy?"

  “Don’t spray it, will you? It’s only if the bad guys come.”

  I kissed the top of his head and crawled back to the bedroom to see what was happening. It looked like most of the bikes and the people on them had gone, only three bikes remained all parked up with no one on them, the massive man I had seen was nowhere to be seen but the two burning bodies were still blazing high. I could see four men that were left, maybe I had nothing to worry about and they would just go away.

  Yeah alright. They were strolling down the street looking like they were laughing. Each of them wore a leather jacket had jeans on and boots of some kind. One had a mask covering his whole face, it looked similar to the ones you would wear at Halloween, the scary clown one, with a scary smile. A mask that wouldn't at all be scary on Halloween, just a generic one sold in thousands of stores but walking down your street at 10 o'clock in the morning with a shotgun in his hands was some scary shit. I felt like I was living the movie plot for the film The Purge. The other 3 men all had bandana's coving their mouths and nose, mask man had something in his other hand, it looked like it could be a spray can or something like that only, I couldn't see properly as they were still too far down the road. He walked up to the house with the body burning outside
and sprayed something on the front door it looked like fork with a line in the middle at the top. It reminded me of some kind of devil symbol or plague marker. The man with the mask on pointed at the other houses, with that they split into two pairs. One pair went next door to the house with the marking on, while mask man and his partner went next door to that.

  I knew I should have looked away that I was pushing my luck but I was transfixed on what they were going to do. As I thought that exacted thing mask man turned around and looked right up at the window I was staring out of. Ducking my head under the window I cursed. Fucking shit! Shit! Shit! Did he just see me?

  My heart was beating so fast and so loud that I could have sworn you could have heard it from outside. What the hell was I going to do if he saw me? I would have lead him straight to Thomas. Panicking at the thought of someone trying to hurt Thomas I started to crawl for his room. I had got about three feet from the window when I heard a crashing noise, then somebody screamed. I froze where I was and tried to take a deep breath but I couldn't, what the bloody hell had they done? Turning back around I had to see, had to know what they were planning on doing. If they were breaking into houses I was screwed. Careful not to move the curtains I peered out the little gap in the side. The front door across the road had been kicked in, the people living there were an old couple I didn't speak to them much, they had a little dog and I was pretty sure they thought Bert would eat her up as they crossed the road anytime they were walking her and I had Bert out. They pretty much kept to themselves but the husband would often be out the front tending to his garden. He would always say hello when I saw him and seemed like a friendly enough fella. I couldn't see what was happening and hoped they were alright. I looked about for mask man or the other man he was with but couldn't see either of them. I needed to get back to Thomas and maybe if the men were occupied I could sneak out and get away. I still wasn't sure where we were going to go but I wasn't staying here if there were people who were killing and burning bodies in the street.