by Kevin Brooks
Over to our left, another group of Youngers had spotted us and were charging up from the beach, and as the first shots were fired – I couldnt tell where from – I heard the sound of guttural shouts and clattering boots coming up the road behind us. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw the Fighters and Youngers wede just left behind making their way up the hill.
As more and more gunfire began raining down on us, we darted to our right and dived for cover behind the wall at the side of the road. We returned fire, doing our best to keep the Fighters and townspeople at bay, but although we managed to slow their progress – forcing most of them to scatter and take cover – we knew we couldnt stay where we were. We were surrounded on 3 sides – Youngers to the east, Fighters and Youngers on the road behind us, and even more Fighters and townspeople directly ahead of us on Main Street. The only place left for us to run was a broad stretch of wasteground to the right of the road, but it was so flat and wide open that we didnt stand a chance of getting across it without being shot.
We need to get out of here, Jeet! Chola Se yelled, letting off a shot towards Main Street.
I was running low on ammunition now, and as I took aim and fired at the nearest Fighter, I knew I only had a couple of rounds left.
Chola Se swung round and blasted away at the Youngers coming up from the beach, then immediately reloaded, swiveled round, and fired off both barrels at the mob on the road behind us.
Theres too many of them! she called out, turning back and reloading again. If we dont get out of here soon —
East Walk, I said suddenly.
She snapped the shotgun shut and looked up quickly, following my gaze and staring ahead at Main Street.
East Walk is a covered passage leading off Main Street that cuts through to an area called Southwall, a winding maze of narrow backstreets and closely packed rows of terraced houses. The passage was about 30 yards ahead of us, on the right of Main Street, midway between us and the main group of Fighters and townspeople. Wede have to run straight towards them to reach it. The roadside wall would give us some cover for the first 15 yards or so, but after that the stonework had collapsed, leaving us no cover at all for the final stretch. Wede be right out in the open, running into a hail of gunfire.
Do you think we can make it? I said to Chola Se.
We have to. Its the only way out, isnt it?
We glanced at each other, both of us knowing that it wasnt really a way out, because even if we reached the passage – which was far from certain – wede only be delaying the inevitable.
But right now that was all we had.
And it was better than being dead.
Ready? Chola Se said.
I held her gaze for a moment, then nodded.
We ran hard and fast, keeping low and shooting over the wall as we went, and when we broke out from behind the wall onto the open road we just kept going, running even faster, swerving and jinking from side to side as we raced towards the turning into East Walk. Gunfire was crashing all around us – bullets screaming through the air, shots plowing into the ground at our feet – and up ahead of us I could see that some of the Fighters had realized what we were doing and were moving towards the passage in an attempt to head us off. But we were nearly there now, just a few yards away from the ancient stone archway that leads into the walk.
Go, Jeet! Chola Se yelled, firing off both barrels.
Bullets smashed into the archway above my head as I lunged into the gloom of the passageway, and a moment later Chola Se came hurtling in after me. She was already reloading the shotgun as we moved off down the tunnel-like corridor – me facing the front, with the Beretta in one hand and my knife in the other, and Chola Se with her back to me, covering our rear with the shotgun.
The stone-walled passage was too narrow for the Fighters – or anyone else – to come after us all together, and anyone foolish enough to try it alone would be blown to pieces the moment they showed their faces. So for the moment we were relatively safe. But I could already hear barked commands coming from outside – THAT WAY! ROUND THE BACK! SEAL OFF THE EXITS! – and the bootsteps of Fighters running back along Main Street. It wasnt hard to guess where they were going – there was another way through to Southwall just along the street – and the danger now was that if they got there before us and blocked our way out, they could trap us inside the passage.
We need to get moving, Chola, I said, picking up speed.
How much farther is it?
It was hard to see in the gloom. My eyes were still adjusting after the glare of the sun, and as I peered down the passageway it was hard to make anything out. I knew there were 2 exits – one on the left of the passage, about halfway along, which led out into a little square in the middle of Southwall, and another one at the far end – and I knew that the one at the far end had 2 separate ways out – left into Southwall, or right into a street that led back towards Eastside.
I could see the exit halfway along now – a narrow archway in the wall just a few yards ahead of us – and as I stared straight ahead, I could just make out the exit at the far end, about 20 yards farther along.
I was just about to ask Chola Se which one she thought we should go for when a figure appeared from the leftside exit at the far end of the passage. I knew who it was straightaway – his corpulent frame was unmistakable – and as our eyes met and we both stopped in our tracks and raised our pistols, I could tell this was the last place he wanted to be.
It was Van Hesse, the Grocer.
There was no rage or madness in his eyes, just fear and uncertainty, and from the way hede walked into the passage – with a reluctant and heavy-footed trudge – it was obvious he was just doing what hede been told.
The order had been given – find the dogchilds, kill them if you have to.
And somehow, much to his dismay, hede found us.
And now here he was – his great bloated body dripping with sweat, his battered old 6-shot revolver visibly shaking in his hand – and I could see the panic and desperation in his eyes as he tried to work out what to do. He didnt want to kill me – he hadnt even wanted to find me – but he didnt want to be shot dead either, and he knew Ide pull the trigger if I had to.
He knew me.
He knew what I was.
And I knew him.
I knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to lower his gun and walk away, but I knew hede never do it---he couldnt. He was Van Hesse, the Grocer – a man of some standing. Hede worked very hard to get where he was, and everyone knew it was only a matter of time before his service was rewarded with a place on the Council. If it ever got out that hede found the dogchilds whode attacked Deputy Pilgrim, but instead of apprehending them – or killing them – as ordered, hede lowered his gun and let them go---
No---he couldnt do it.
The consequences were unthinkable.
What are you waiting for, Jeet? Chola Se said.
Just then I saw the Grocers eyes dart to his right, and as he quickly looked back at me – at the same time taking half a step to his left – I knew we only had moments to spare.
This way, Chola! I snapped, running for the exit to our left. Come on!
I kept the Beretta raised as I ran the few yards to the narrow archway, and just as I got there I saw 2 Fighters rushing into the passage and bundling Van Hesse out of the way. Chola Se was right behind me now, and as I stepped aside – covering her as she lunged for the exit – I just had time to see the Fighters raising their rifles before she grabbed my arm and dragged me through the archway out into the square.
The sudden glare of the sun blinded us both for a second, but as we shielded our eyes from the dazzling light and gazed around the little square in search of the best way out, we saw straightaway that we only had one choice. There were 2 narrow streets leading off the square, both on the side farthest away from us, and just off to our right was the Stoop, a steep flight of stone steps with houses either side that led all the way down to the rear of the Quarterhouse. Half a do
zen townspeople were gathered at the corner of one of the streets, and 3 Fighters had just emerged from the other one and were crossing the square towards us. And from inside the passage we could hear the 2 Fighters coming after us, the hollow stomp of their running boots rapidly approaching the archway.
Chola Se swung round and fired at the Fighters in the square, and as one of them tumbled to the ground and the other 2 began shooting back, we turned and ran for the steps.
There was a cacophony of noise all around us now – gunshots, shouts, barking dogs, people yelling out from upstairs windows, THERE THEY ARE! OVER THERE! THEY WENT DOWN THE STOOP! – and as we raced down the steps, taking 2 or 3 at a time, the sounds seemed to follow us down, swirling and echoing around the walls of the houses like seabirds swooping around cliffs.
We were both on our last legs now – exhausted, weak, dehydrated – and I knew we couldnt keep going much longer. Our bodies had had enough. And when I saw Chola Se stumbling to a halt in front of me and wearily raising her shotgun again, and I looked down past her and saw Captain Luca and 2 young Fighters taking aim at us from behind a barricade of heavy oak barrels that were blocking the steps about halfway down, I very nearly gave up there and then. I didnt have to look round to know we couldnt turn back – I could hear the stampede of boots on the steps behind us – and as I gazed around at the houses either side of us, searching desperately for somewhere to run, all I could see was an endless stretch of solid walls and locked-up doors and shutters.
Wede run out of places to run.
LOWER YOUR WEAPONS! Captain Luca called out.
Remember what I said before, Jeet?
I turned to Chola Se, momentarily confused, but when I saw the way she was looking at me, I understood what she meant. Shede looked at me like that once before – when shede made me promise that I wouldnt let the Dau take her alive – only now it wasnt the ways of the Dau she was worried about but the way shede be treated by our own people if they took her alive.
But they arent our people, are they? I suddenly found myself thinking. They never were. Theyre people, theyre humans---we no more belong with them than we belong with the Dau. Weare Deathland dogs. We belong to no one. Weare the unwanted, the hunted, the trapped, the slaughtered---
DROP YOUR WEAPONS, NOW!
Jeet? Whats the matter? Open your eyes, Jeet.
I opened my eyes. I didnt know what was happening. I didnt know where I was or where Ide just been---
IF YOU DONT LOWER YOUR WEAPONS IMMEDIATELY YOU WILL BE SHOT!
When the highpitched whistle suddenly screeched through my head, I thought for a moment that it was coming from inside me – a dream, a memory, an illusion – or that maybe it was the sound of a bullet piercing my skull, but then – as the whistle abruptly stopped – I saw Chola Ses head turn sharply to the left, her eyes full of life as she stared hard at something. And I knew then that the whistle wasnt a dream or a memory or an imagined bullet, it was real. But at the same time it wasnt just an ordinary whistle. It was so highpitched that it was beyond the range of human hearing, a whistle that only dogs – and dogchilds with heightened senses – could hear, and as I turned my head and followed Chola Ses gaze, I could see the half-open door where it had come from. The wooden door was in the wall to our left, less than 10 feet away, and there was no doubt in my mind that it hadnt been open when Ide looked at it just a few moments ago.
The whistle sounded again – 2 short blasts – this time from slightly farther away, and even before the second blast had finished we were already hurtling towards the door. It only took us a couple of seconds to get there, and by the time Captain Luca had given the order to shoot – FIRE! – and the Fighters had opened up with a volley of rifle fire, we were clattering through the wooden door into a narrow alleyway between 2 houses. There was another open door at the end of the alleyway, and beyond that another backstreet---but that wasnt where the whistle had come from.
The whistle had come from Cruke.
He was standing beside an open door about halfway along the alley on the righthand side, waving us towards him and urging us to hurry.
Can we can trust him? Chola Se said breathlessly.
What choice do we have?
I could shoot him.
I looked at her. Wede be dead by now if it wasnt for him.
She thought about that for a moment, then nodded, and we ran down the alley towards Cruke.
As we approached him, he stood aside and ushered us through the open doorway. It led directly into the hallway of the house, and as we stepped inside we saw Crukes wife – a plump old woman called Gilder – standing quietly at the foot of a staircase halfway along the hall.
Go with Gilder, Cruke said quickly, glancing anxiously along the alley. Youre safe now, okay?
As we began heading down the hallway Cruke put his hand on my shoulder and stopped me.
Hit me, Jeet, he said.
What?
Just here, he said, putting his hand to his forehead. Use your gun. Make it look real, but dont knock me out.
I dont understand —
Just do it, Jeet, he said firmly. Hurry up. Weare running out of time.
I suddenly realized what he was doing – I knew why he wanted me to hit him, and I knew why it had to look convincing – so I raised my gun, held it still for just a moment, then cracked the barrel into his head. I meant to hit him hard enough to draw blood but not too hard to seriously hurt him, and as he staggered backwards, almost losing his balance, I thought for a second Ide overdone it – the blood was already streaming down his face – but after a few faltering steps he steadied himself, leaning against the wall and shaking the dizziness from his head, then he looked at me and gave me a quick nod of approval, and I let out a sigh of relief.
Go now, he said, lowering himself to the ground. Quick, before they get here.
I moved off down the hallway. Gilder and Chola Se had begun climbing the stairs now, and Gilder was beckoning me to join them. I glanced back at the doorway and saw Cruke lying on the ground in the alley, holding his bloodied head and moaning, and I knew that when Luca and all the others arrived and Cruke told them that hede tried to stop us, but wede overpowered him and run off down the alley, theyd believe him. He was Cruke, the legendary exFighter Captain and respected Councillor, and he was flat out on the ground with his head split open. There was no reason not to believe him.
I turned back and began following Gilder and Chola Se up the stairs.
When we reached the third floor of the house, Gilder led us along a short corridor to a locked door at the far end. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a leather cord threaded with keys, and after fumbling her way through them for a while – squinting at each one in turn – she finally found the key she was looking for and stooped down to unlock the door. She waited a moment before opening it, standing up straight and cocking her head to one side at the faint sound of muffled shouts coming from outside. The short burst of shouting was followed almost immediately by the hurried clomping of running Fighters---dozens of them from the sound of it. Gilder carried on listening until it was clear they were moving away from the house, then she bent down to the door again, opened it up, and gestured for us to go in.
It was an odd little room – 2 chairs, a small table, a rickety old cupboard, patterned rugs hanging on bare stone walls – and the only source of light was a small window with iron bars across it high up on the far wall. There was nothing obviously out of place about the room, it was just that I couldnt work out what it was supposed to be. It clearly wasnt a bedroom, and it wasnt a store room or a workroom either. And if it was meant to be a place for just sitting and relaxing, what was it doing at the far end of a corridor on the third floor?
It didnt make sense.
And then there was the smell.
Ide seen Chola Ses nose twitch as soon as wede entered the room, and a few moments later Ide caught the scent too. It was only very faint – too faint for humans to sense – and it seemed to be com
ing from somewhere nearby rather than inside the room, but there were definitely traces of it in here – in the air, the walls, the furniture, the floor, the ceiling. It was a scent of the past, of another time and another world---the scent of another life. And it shouldnt have been here. It didnt belong here.
None of it made sense.
And when I glanced at Chola Se I could see that she felt the same. There was an uneasiness about her, a wariness, an instinctive sense of disquiet. Wede both secured our weapons as wede made our way up the stairs – Ide pocketed the Beretta and Chola Se had slung the shotgun round her back – but as we looked at each other now, silently sharing our concerns, Chola Se quietly reached round and pulled the shotgun forward so that it was hanging at her hip.
Ile get you some food and water in a minute, Gilder said, smiling kindly at us as she crossed over to the wall on our left. And Ile bring some bandages too. Your leg needs looking at, Jeet.
I looked down and realized that my knife wound had opened up again and my leg was soaked in blood.
We just need to make sure youre safe first, okay? Gilder said.
The faded red rug hanging on the wall in front of her was roughly the size and shape of a door. A wooden baton was attached to the top edge of the rug, and it looked as if the baton was securely fixed to the wall, but when Gilder reached up and pulled at one end of it, both the baton and the rug swung outwards, opening up like a shutter to reveal a small wooden door in the wall. It was no more than 5 feet high and 2 feet across – and set about 6 inches off the ground – and it was fastened with 2 heavy bolts. Gilder had to stand on tiptoe and stretch up as far as she could to reach the bolt at the top, but she managed it with practiced ease, as if shede done it hundreds of times before. She unlocked the lower bolt, then opened the door and gestured us forward.
Its all right, she said, noticing our hesitation. Theres nothing to be afraid of, I promise. Youre safe here, I give you my word. No harm will come to you in this house.