“Traitors! Us?” Luke choked on the words. One of the soldiers whacked him in the temple with the butt of a rifle, and he crumpled to his knees and fell forwards, he shook his head from side to side but it only made the pain worse.
“Hey, dude?” roared Jake. “We gave you to him, but there’s no need for that.”
“What you think is insignificant to me. These two traitors will be shot like dogs. You may watch if you wish, and then we’ll lynch them from lampposts as a warning to the others.”
“My God…,” whimpered Winnie. “What have we done?”
“You promised us freedom,” said the man in the Kiss T-shirt.
“I will honor the agreement, if you pass the plague test, then you will be transported north to freedom—”
“There is no test,” Sophie said. Lieutenant Carpenter slapped her across her face. She trembled with rage, and she turned to him. “You’re the biggest idiot, walking around here without a suit on.” He slapped her face once more.
Luke raged. “I’m gonna kill you!”
“That, my friend, would be a pretty neat trick,” Carpenter laughed.
“Cut it out,” said Jake. “The US army does not brutalize women.”
The major regarded him balefully. “Do you want this test or not?”
Jake looked ashamed and looked away. “Up to you,” said the major. “I’ll leave you to think about it.”
The rest of the group had no such qualms. Hands shot up. “Me, I’ll take the test!” A soldier snapped open a test tube, and indicated for the man to open his mouth, and inserted a cotton bud, much like taking a DNA sample, put it back in the tube where a liquid turned black. “He’s a carrier,” said the soldier.
Major Osborne swiftly pulled his pistol and shot the man between the eyes, the stunned man fell back off the quayside into the ocean with a mighty splash.
“He had the plague,” the major explained. “He was a danger to us all.”
The group was shocked into silence. The next volunteer took the test apprehensively. Once again, the soldier shook his head, and the major dispatched him to a watery grave. A woman went next, she crossed herself, but she too was condemned to death, she opened her mouth to scream, but was shot before she could utter a sound.
Luke looked up at Sophie and winked, which she took as a cue for a distraction. “You idiots, don’t you get it, there is no cure!”
“Shut her up,” the major snarled.
Lieutenant Carpenter had a glint in his eye, approached her, and raised his rifle butt-end to smash her in the face, when she said. “What sort of moron are you? Did they inject you with an antidote — is that it? Do you think there’s a cure? There’s no cure for this strain of the Bubonic Plague, you fool.” She pointed to the major. “He knows there’s no cure and he’s tricked you into being exposed to the disease. You’re going to die.”
Carpenter lost his nerve for a moment, hesitated and turned angrily to the major.
“Don’t listen to the traitor, soldier, misinformation is a key tool of the terrorist.”
Sophie urged. “Look around you. Does it look like there is a cure?”
“Shut her up, that’s an order!” yelled the major. Lieutenant Carpenter flipped his weapon around and pointed it at her, his finger pulled slowly back on the trigger…
CHAPTER 28
15:00 PM
“Get off me!” General Malloy kicked out at the young soldier who had a firm hold of his ankle. His boot caught the rookie in the face, pain shot through him and he released his grip. The general shone his flashlight up at the hole and his possible escape route, but it looked out of his reach.
The young soldier rubbed his jaw. “Why’d you kick me?”
The general shot him a glance. “You questioning me, son?” he snarled nastily.
The boy gulped. “No, G— General, s— sorry, General.” He stood, gently testing his weight on his leg, then fell back screaming in pain, he clutched at his ankle, bewildered to see a jagged bone poking through his pant-leg.
The general jumped up at the hole, but fell short. “Son, come over here.”
He shone his flashlight into the young private’s face. The boy looked incredulous, and pointed at the bone sticking out. “Look!”
“Then, hop. Here! Now!” He sighed as the private gingerly raised himself from the rubble. He hopped on one leg, lost his balance and fell over with an agonizing scream. “That’s an order, son!” the general roared. The private stood and hopped as best he could. “Up there.” General Malloy shone a path with the flashlight beam up the pile of debris nearest the hole.
“I quit. I don’t want to be in the army no more,” he moaned.
The general unclipped the holster to his firearm. “That can easily be arranged.”
The rookie gulped and quickly stood. “That, erm, won’t be necessary, General.” He sighed with relief as the general re-holstered his weapon. He hopped up the ever-moving pile of rubble, lost his footing and had to start again. On his hands and knees, he dragged the useless limb behind him as he crawled. Finally he clambered to the top and sat on the apex under the hole. He drew in large gulps of air until he got his breath back. He rubbed his ankle; his face grimaced in immense pain. “Do you want me to stand, General?” he asked, hoping the answer would be no.
“Negative, Son. You sit there, get your breath back,” replied the general kindly, then briskly undid his holster, pulled out his firearm and shot the private between the eyes. “Sorry, son, but it’s for a good cause.”
He ran up the heap of broken masonry blocks, up the body of the private that still pumped blood from the neat hole in his forehead, and with the extra height leaped up and gripped onto the edge of the hole.
He grunted, groaned, and with every fiber in his body managed to heave himself up into the narrow gap. He pushed the flashlight in the hole in front of him and his heart sank as in every direction his escape route was blocked.
With dogged determination, he removed the first block, then the second. However, this dislodged a slab of concrete above that brought down a cloud of dust on top of his head. He screwed his eyes shut and held his breath.
Eventually the dust stopped and he shone the flashlight beam upward and saw the dust swirling in the beam, signifying a draft and more importantly the outside air. He wriggled forward on his elbows and up over the jagged rocks, which ripped at his uniform. He pushed with his legs and forced his shoulders through the narrow gap, and slithered the rest of his torso up into what appeared to be the underground parking lot.
The ceiling has collapsed down onto vehicles. Some sturdy utility trucks and off-roaders crushed to half their normal size, but allowed a small gap, which he took full advantage. He slid between a supporting wall and a garbage truck, when he saw the body of a woman blocking his passage.
He shone his flashlight in her face, her eyes reacted to the sudden brightness, and her lips tried to form words. He knew he could not go back and had to continue forward. He had no time for sympathy, or even to offer help, the ceiling could cave in at any moment. A rumble in the distance was a timely reminder of the need for speed and he inched forwards on his elbows.
The woman detected the man crawling on his stomach towards her and relief filled her broken body from head to toe. “You’ve come to help… praise the lord…” but her thankfulness turned to abject horror, when he crawled right over the top of her as if she was mere debris.