by Dave Lacey
And they didn’t. The three remaining ‘Landers above them pulled back and began to fire on Smithy. Fortunately, Smithy had taken cover behind some debris, but now he was trapped between two groups of ‘Landers. Those trying to flee to the safety of the cruiser had reconsidered and remained where they were. Jack lay on the ground, his back wet and getting wetter, trying to think what to do next. Millie knelt beside him, head held low, looking anxiously down the slope to where Smithy was.
“He’ll be fine,” Jack said to her.
“Not when I get hold of him he won’t,” Millie replied through gritted teeth. “He’s such a dick.”
“Yeah I know, but you gotta love him for it,” Jack said.
“So, genius, what now?” Millie asked, without looking at him. Jack frowned.
“Don’t blame me for his gung ho attitude, Mill. The man makes his own decisions, even the stupid ones.”
“He never makes anything but stupid ones, Jackson.”
Jack chuckled. “I’m going to make a break for it. Down to where Smithy is. You’re–”
Millie cut him off. “No you’re frigging not. You wouldn’t make it ten yards before you have their exploding buckshot riddling your back. We’ll figure something else out.” She glared hard at her brother. She was fierce.
“Okay, just as soon as you’ve thought of it, let me know,” Jack said. After a few seconds, he continued. “My idea was that if I go out there after him…” Millie was about to cut him off again, when he raised a hand to placate her, “…jinking my way sinuously down the slope, they may come after me if they think there are only two of us. So, you wait here, then come over the top, shoot them in the back.” He finished. She just glared at him again.
“Shitty plan, Jackson. Shitty plan.” She shook her head. Jack gathered himself and sat up, then turned and rose to one knee. “I mean it, Jack, you’re not going over there without me.” As she spoke, Jack’s eyes widened in surprise and horror. Millie spun round to see what it was. Too late, she realized she had fallen for one of the oldest tricks around. In a flash, Jack launched himself over the drop and scampered, slipping and sliding down the slope. Angry at his stupidity, she didn’t think twice before going after him, plan forgotten. The remaining ‘Landers started firing at Jack almost the second he was up and running. Smithy returned fire in an attempt to keep their heads down. It worked, until he started to take fire from the ‘Landers that were behind him.
Then it all became surreal. Jack’s plan kind of worked. The three ‘Landers who had been above Jack and Millie’s former position took their chance, and launched themselves down the slope. Jack reached his nook, and his face dropped in horror. It would have worked if his sister had just stayed where she was. Now he was angry.
They were caught in the jaws of the enemy, and they were running low on ammunition. But then the strangest thing happened. As the three ‘Landers came to rest in the nook where the humans had hidden, gunfire erupted. Jack looked across at his sister and Smithy. It was neither of them.
He frowned, then remembered. Darren was still up there. Shit. He moved to stand, but, as he watched, he realized what had happened. Darren must have had a jammed weapon rather than an empty one, which he had cleared. The ‘Landers must have dropped in front of him, backs turned, and he had opened fire. Taken by surprise, they did a kind of jig and collapsed forward slowly. Then Darren tottered forward to the edge of the opening and peered over the rim. Jack was about to scream at him to get down, when he heard the cruiser burst into life behind him.
He spun round to see it lifting into the dark, rainy night sky. Water streamed from the body and four legs as it swung in a tight arc and moved quickly away from them. The remaining ‘Landers must have taken their chance and made a run for it. Jack got to his feet, and the pain was etched on his face as he held a hand to his back.
“You’re getting old, bro.” Millie smiled as she approached him.
“Where’s your boyfriend?” Jack asked in return. Millie turned to look, as Jack looked up the slope at Darren, still standing on the edge of their former nook, holding the rifle across his body. Without turning, Jack heard Smithy trudging through the mud towards their position.
“Well that was very nearly a clusterfuck,” Smithy said as he stood shoulder to shoulder with Jack, looking up at Darren also.
Jack punched Smithy in the shoulder, causing him to stagger slightly to his left.
“Knob,” he muttered.
Millie stood glaring at Smithy before she launched into him.
“Just what did you think you were doing? You massive tool. You could have been killed. In fact, you should have been killed. That way, I would have been rid of you. I’d never have to deal with your stupidity ever again.”
Smithy’s answer, in time honoured tradition, was to wrap an arm around Millie’s waist, pull her in tight, and kiss her full on the lips. And it might have worked too, if it hadn’t been Millie he was trying it on. She leaned back, both hands on his chest and pushed herself away from him, her face filled with disgust.
“Really? How long have you known me, you idiot? I didn’t think even you were that dumb.” Then she slapped him hard across the face and marched up the slope to Darren, who still stood unmoving, staring down at the dead ‘Landers. Jack looked at Smithy, who looked back at him, open mouthed and wide eyed, his hands held out to the sides.
“What did I do?” Smithy asked.
“You really are a moron at times,” Jack said. He turned to follow his sister.
Chapter 13
They waited in the dark, half a mile from where the battle took place, allowing Darren to find his feet again. They talked of how and what they would do when they reached their final destination. Darren sat to one side, shivering and staring at the ground in front of him. Shock. They wrapped him in two jackets to keep his temperature up, then, finally, they tried to break him out of his torpor.
“Hey Darren,” Smithy said, hunkering down to engage with Daren’s eyes. “You need to snap out of this, mate. We need to get going, and we need to get the job done.” Darren said something, too quiet for Smithy to hear. “What?” Smithy asked him.
“I said,” Darren half shouted, “we could have died. I could have died.” He finally looked up from the ground, his eyes wild as he stared around at the three faces before him.
“Yeah, well, thanks for your concern,” Smithy muttered, getting back to his feet and wandering away.
“Darren, what did you think was going to happen? That we’d just have a tough conversation with anyone we encountered and get my son back anyway?” Darren looked away from Jack as he spoke. Jack didn’t relent. “Life doesn’t work like that anymore, mate, and I’m not sure it ever did before. This is part of our life now, and besides, they were ‘Landers. It’s kill or be killed.” Jack’s voice was as soothing as it could be under the circumstances.
“I’m not stupid, Jack. Don’t treat me like a child,” Darren said, his face twisted into a sneer.
Jack’s expression hardened. “Okay, fair enough. Then snap the fuck out of it. You’re right, you’re not a child, and we don’t have time for this shit. If you don’t grow a pair and help us out, your daughters will become orphans.”
Darren’s head swivelled round as he looked aghast at Jack.
“I’m not going to kill you, you fool, but you’ll get yourself killed if you don’t buck up.” Jack got to his feet. “There’s no time for reflection. My son is out there somewhere.” Jack waved an arm in a southerly direction. Their own community lay to the north west. They had angled east across to Darren’s former community, then south to the Hill. “And I intend to get him back, unharmed. Now get to your feet and man up. It’s time.”
The others got quickly to their feet, and then, a little ashamed, Darren got to his. They packed up their gear, and nodded at each other before moving out. The rain was falling straight down, in heavy unavoidable sheets. There was no wind, and it soaked right through everything it came into contact wit
h. In some ways it hampered their progress, in others it helped. Their approach to the Hill, now within a mile, would go unseen.
There was so much water in the air and on the ground that it would be impossible to track them without specialist equipment, equipment that people did not possess any longer. They trudged along, miserable and forlorn. Four people about to go into a serious fire fight. This was no way to prepare. They were tired now. Tired and probably suffering from adrenal fatigue. The earlier battle had taken a massive toll on them all, not just Darren, and they would need to be bright and alert for what followed.
Unless they were stupendously fortunate, and the opposition were as zoned out as they were in the main base. As they shuffled forward, Jack looked up at the sky, hoping for a break in the rain. Instead, there was a great flash of bolt lightning, followed a second or two later by an deafening roar of thunder.
All four of them bent their knees and dipped their upper bodies at the sheer majesty of sound and light. The sound rattled on for a few seconds and reverberated through their eardrums. Jack looked at Darren, who swallowed hard while looking up. There was little left in the way of fight, and Jack could see he was on the verge of bolting. “C’mon, Daz,” he said. “We’re almost there aren’t we? Not much left to do now.”
Jack moved a step closer and placed a hand on their new friend’s shoulder. “Besides, we need you to keep watch outside while we do the deed inside.” Jack had come to the conclusion that it was pointless taking Darren in – he would either be killed, or get one of them killed.
Darren swallowed again and looked him in the eye. There was a shadow of something in his eyes, fear or shame, or both. But then his face changed and showed gratitude. “Yes, of course.” He licked his lips before going on. “I can do that.” Darren nodded, before turning his face away again. Jack was pretty sure had it been daylight, he would have seen Darren’s cheeks burn red. Jack spoke quietly to him, so that the others couldn’t hear.
“There’s no shame, Darren. It was your first firefight, and you handled it really well.”
Darren whirled around to face him, and was about to speak when Jack held out a hand.
“You have done really well. We’d have been finished if you hadn’t taken out those ‘Landers who were coming for us. So don’t sweat it. We’ve done this sort of thing many times before.” He patted Darren on the shoulder, then turned to the others.
“Let’s wake up now eh? We’re within a mile.” Both Millie and Smithy gave him sardonic looks. They really had been this way before.
For the next fifteen minutes, they took great care to guard their approach. They fanned out into a diamond pattern, Millie at the front, Smithy and Jack to the sides with Darren bringing up the rear. They moved forward slowly. Swinging their heads from side to side, scanning the ground in front and to the sides for watchers. Finally, Darren hissed from behind them. They all turned to look at him, and he pointed to the left and up high. There it was: the Hill. And it really was a hill, with a red sandstone building sat atop it. “Everton water tower,” Jack muttered to himself.
Jack knew the building was Victorian. Surrounded by darkness, silhouetted by the occasional bolt of lightning, it would have been beautiful if not for the sinister associations already made in the minds of the four of them.
There were guards outside, four from first impressions. But it looked as if the lights that lit the walls were shining in the eyes of the guards. It made them semi-blind. So far so good. And they needn’t have worried about fatigue. Adrenaline is an amazing hormone, and it had served them well once more. As they crept closer, their senses sharpened and their bodies felt light and strong. They were close now, two hundred yards away. They kept low and quiet, but Jack was confident they wouldn’t be seen or heard. The combination of lights, lightning, rain and thunder took care of that. They stopped at Jack’s signal.
“Okay, the three of us will approach via the grassy slope.” He used his hands to emphasize his instructions. “We’ll make our way up using elbows and knees, keeping low. We’ll do it this side of the lights. They’ll never see us coming.” He paused. Taking out the first three would be the easy part. “We won’t know who’s on the other side until we get there, and I don’t think we have the time or the inclination to scout it out totally.” Smithy nodded. Scouting around in the rain for another hour or so, would kill the momentum.
“So we’ll just take it as it comes. First to their kill checks out the other side. We know that there’s likely to be at least one more guard round there. Let’s just hope that’s all there is,” Jack muttered. He then turned and spoke to Darren.
“Darren, you’re the most important part of all this. You’re our eyes and ears out here. If anyone approaches, open fire on them. If you hit them, great. If not, at least try to make them duck for cover. Slowing them down will give us a chance. But don’t get caught. Fire, then move. Keep moving until you’re sure you’re out of danger.” He clasped Darren’s shoulder once more, trying to convey trust and calmness. Darren nodded.
“Stay alive,” Jack continued. “We may need to depend on you, if and when we come out of there. Give us an hour. If we’re not back out by then, go. Head back to your girls. Then take them to our colony, with anybody else who wants to go.” They all hugged Darren, then faced each other, grim and resolute.
“Let’s do this,” Jack said, and they moved off up the hill.
They crawled as Jack had advised, using elbows, knees and feet to propel themselves up the slope. The grass was drenched, and the ground was cold and muddy. They approached with the lights in front of them, as Jack had said, so as to make it impossible for the guards to see them coming.
They waited. One minute, two minutes, four, then six. It didn’t matter how long, the timing had to be right. Then it came. Jack was waiting, alert and watchful. His eyes were trained on his mark, as he moved back and forth in a slow, lazy beat. Then, out of the corner of his eye, almost out of his sight round the curve of the building, he saw the first guard jerk back, then crumple. The shot made a slight sound, but it was mostly muffled by their makeshift silencers and the rain.
Jack was behind Millie’s shot by around a second and a half. The bullet took his opponent high in the chest. There could be no fancy head shots when you’re using an automatic rifle with a homemade silencer. He wasn’t sure if the shot had killed the man outright. Then, Smithy’s chance came, and the third man hit the ground with a distant, muffled moan.
Before Jack had risen to his feet, Millie had covered the ground between her position and the building’s cloistered external walkway. The guards taken down by Millie and Smithy were dead. Jack’s was still alive, judging by the bubbles in the blood welling out of his chest. The bullet had spalled on entry and done terrible damage. Jack knelt and moved the man’s hand away from the wound, allowing the blood to run freely. Better that he died quicker, for everybody’s sake. Then they were flat against the wall, moving in opposite directions, towards the man, or men, round the far side.
Jack went alone, and Smithy accompanied Millie. They were, for the first time in a number of hours, finally out of the rain. As Jack came closer to where he thought the opposition would be, he heard the muffled crunch of the improvised silencers. He sped up, keeping his rifle out in front of him, elbows tucked into his sides in the typical stance of the experienced soldier. By the time he arrived, it was done. There had indeed been two guards, but Millie had taken them out before they could even sight their targets.
“Wow, you’re efficient,” Jack muttered, as he looked the dead men over.
“Someone has to be,” Millie replied with an ironic smile.
“Okay, smart arse, let’s get inside before somebody notices what’s happened.” Jack leaned back to look at the double doors before them. His eyes took in every detail, from the solidity of the wood, to the timelessness of the almighty hinges. He was beginning to think they would be near impossible to shift, when Smithy stepped forward and pushed the left hand one
open.
“Sometimes, it’s just that easy,” Smithy said. He smiled and walked through into the darkness. Jack followed, and Millie brought up the rear. As soon as they were in, it became clear that most of the building’s space was below ground. The Victorian edifice they had first seen was just somewhere to put the door. Big as it was, the domed top and huge wooden doors just housed a spiral staircase that wound its way down into the earth. It had been a long time since it had been used as a water tower. An ornate balustrade and marble steps led away in front of them, enticing them into the inky darkness below. Smithy made a sound as if to speak, when Millie cut him off with a sharp gesture.
Soft and silent as they could, they started on the steps. There was some light at the bottom, but it wavered and bloomed. The inhabitants at the bottom were probably using fire torches to light their way. Halfway down, the three uninvited guests found it easier to see where they were going. The light grew stronger, and with it came sound. Like the torches, the sound swelled and subsided, became harsh then drifted to nothing.
The walls were neatly tiled, still smooth and durable. The stone steps, worn and dipping in the middle, would last for hundreds of years longer. Buildings were an expression of engineering in those days. They were close. It also became apparent that whichever space the noise came from, it wasn’t directly below them.
In fact, they were within thirty feet of the bottom, and, from there, the light moved off down another passage. Slower than before, they approached the bottom with great care, concerned that there might be another lookout there. They needn’t have worried: the enemy were so confident in their supremacy they had not bothered to leave anybody there.
The three of them made it to the ground, and spread out each side of the passage entrance. After a few furtive glances, they established there was nobody waiting in the passage either.
After a few hand signals and gestures to indicate the running order down the passage, they started in on it. Millie had point, her gun flicked to safety and slung across her back. She was now armed with a thick-bladed hunting knife, smooth and sharp on one side, serrated on the other. Jack was similarly equipped, followed by Smithy, who had piano wire strung between two five inch long pieces of wood as his weapon of choice.