Ellie's Heroes

Chapter 04

by Technomad

A few nights later, we figured it was time to call New Zealand. We'd reported the disappearance of their SAS commandoes, and been, so to speak, patted on the head and told that we were good kids. After that, we'd gone clean off the idea of talking to those people. After Cobbler's Bay, I'd think the last thing they'd want to do is underestimate us, but no matter what, there were people in the world who would see us as "just a bunch of kids" until we hit the Magic Age of 18.

We hiked up to the top of Tailor's Sitch, and then up a nearby hill, for the best chance of actually getting through to Kiwiland. Homer and Lee clambered up a gum tree to string up the radio aerial, and once that was done, we fired up the radio and began transmitting the code phrase we'd been assigned for these occasions.

"Wolverine to Xavier, come in, Wolverine to Xavier, over."

After a few repetitions, we got an answer. "Xavier here. What have you to report, Wolverine?" I recognised that Oxbridge accent; it was our old acquaintance…can't call him a friend, now can I?…Colonel Finley. He was apparently in charge of us. I wasn't sure whether I liked that idea, but it wasn't for me to say.

Lee took the mic and told him what we'd been up to since our last report in. At the mention of the name "Nigel Price," Colonel Finley became very excited.

"Nigel Price? The Nigel Price? The professor of nuclear physics from Queensland University?" He nearly lost control of himself. "Can you put him on, please?"

We did, and he introduced himself. "G'day, Colonel. Nigel Price here. Had a spot of bother, but these clever young people pulled me out of it. I'm doing well, and I'm glad to hear that you lot were thinking of me."

"We certainly were! Can you make it to-" and Colonel Finley named a large open area not too far from where we were-"in two nights' time? We need to pull you out of there!"

"What about my hosts?" I was glad to hear that Mr. Price…or should I call him Dr. Price or Professor Price?…hadn't forgotten us.

"We can't extract them at this time; we're stretched nearly to our limit here. The enemy's been bombing New Zealand, and we've lost several ships; our air force is mainly occupied with keeping New Zealand airspace safe. I wish them all the best, but for now, they'll have to stay put. I'd bet on them surviving anything the enemy could throw at them."

I was glad to hear that Colonel Finley thought so well of our skills, but even so, I'd not have been sorry to be told that we were to be extracted, too. I sighed inwardly. A bowlful of ice cream would have gone down a right treat just about then.

We did have a couple of days before they could come for Mr. Price (he told us to forget about calling him by fancy titles; he was as plain as people came and liked to be treated that way. He was a real dinkum Aussie) and we used it to prepare. I'd never been to Monmouth, but knew it was a medium-sized city, some ways distant from Stratton, and on the other side of Stratton from Wirrawee and Cobbler's Bay. That suited me fine. Up there, we hadn't ever been active, and had no grief to inherit; the local invaders wouldn't be as on the watch for us as they were around our usual operating area.

Lee and Fi came up with the idea of hitting the Wirrawee Public Library for guidebooks and maps. The times we'd been in Wirrawee since the invasion, it looked as though the invaders had left the building strictly alone. Made sense…they had their own language, and English-language books wouldn't have appealed to them. Not to mention, the selection there wasn't exactly up to much…the times I'd been in there, it leaned heavily toward romances and fluff, mainly appealing to older women. The nonfiction, unsurprisingly, was weighted toward practical books about farming problems. However, I did distinctly remember some guidebooks, including one about Monmouth and its environs.

The night we were expecting the helicopter from New Zealand, we made our way to the arranged landing-point. Among the other interesting gadgets we'd been equipped with were some lights that showed up on IR scopes but not to the unaided eye; we set them around the landing field so that the chopper pilot would know where to land.

The night was cloudy, and it was hard to see; by now, we were used to having moonlight or starlight be our main light, but without that, we were nearly as night-blind as we'd been before the invasion. We'd used our night-vision goggles to help us find our way. At the appointed hour, we were hidden in bushes near the landing field, waiting for the Kiwis.

The New Zealanders' copter was stealthed somehow; I shall have to find out just how they did that. I'd always thought that helicopters were noisy by their nature, but this one drifted down from the clouds almost as silently as a leaf. It was a small one, only a two-seater, and the second it was on the ground, Mr. Price ran forward and jumped in, it rose into the night and was gone. He'd given us his farewells before the Kiwis came; Fi and I had both collected a kiss, and I rubbed my cheek reflectively, thinking about that. Lee and Homer had both scowled, until he shook their hands, and Kevin's, thanking them most sincerely for rescuing him. He did know how to deal with people, which wasn't something I'd have expected from a high-powered academic. Guess all that stuff I'd always discounted about common-room politics has something in it after all.

Once our guest was gone, we turned all our attention to Monmouth. For some reason, Homer and I got tapped to go into Wirrawee and see if the library was still intact. I don't know quite how that happened, but that was how it was set up.

It could have been worse. Wirrawee, at least, was a town I knew well. And Homer…I've said before that there's few people, if any, that I'd rather have by my side in a tight situation. Even so, the trip would by no means be easy. The town was emptied of our people, and just being seen on the streets might set off a full-scale man- (and woman-) hunt, something we did not need. What was worse, some of the invaders there knew who we really were. The false papers we carried would do no good if they had another Australian traitor who was willing to positively identify us, and both Homer and I were still, as far as we knew, under sentence of death.

Aye, well…I figured I'd seen the view down the enemy's rifle-barrels many a time, and if we were caught, it'd just mean that that was the last thing I ever saw. Homer, the big tosser, acted like it was just another trip into town before the invasion. The mad bugger actually asked Fi for a list of things she wanted, if we got the chance to lift them.

"That's a good idea!" said Lee. "If they do twig that we've been in town, I'd rather they thought we were just raiding for supplies, instead of figuring out that we were after the library." Put that way, I could see his point. And we always did have some little thing or other we wanted; it wasn't like the days before the war, when such things were no farther away than Wirrawee, or, if not in Wirrawee, no farther away than a mail-order catalogue.

We made up a list of stuff we could use. Canned food, of course, topped it off; while we had plenty of supplies courtesy of our "friends" in Kiwiland, and could always get our hands on bush tucker, there were things we missed, and stretching out our food supplies was always top-priority. In books I'd read about war, before the invasion, for some reason they didn't talk much about food and getting it, but that was always a prime topic of conversation in our camp in Hell. If I ever got out of this, I planned to look up some real soldiers, and ask them if they ever obsessed about food the way we did.

We also wanted some medical supplies. Fi and I insisted that tampons be on the list, no matter how much the guys blushed. I know that subject squicks men of all ages out, but we really did need to top up our stores. When Homer mentioned condoms, that went on the shopping list without anybody objecting; I could see Fiona blushing and knew that I had a secret little smile on my face. First-aid gear…bandages, aspirin and iodine and the like…also made the cut. We did know those things might be guarded, so they weren't absolutely "must-have-at-all-costs" things. At least, if I were guarding against a group of sneaky guerrillas, I'd want to make sure they couldn't just capture medical supplies.

The night we'd picked for our trip to Wirrawee was cloudy, with a fine, misty rain coming down. That suited us just fine. As it happened, our Australian-issue rain cloaks were almost exactly the same colour and pattern that the enemy used, so Homer and I planned to walk the streets openly, merely avoiding close encounters with the enemy. At a distance, and in the dark and mist, we could easily pass as ordinary enemy soldiers, doing what they were supposed to be doing.

We rode off toward Wirrawee on our dirt bikes, slipping and sliding in the mud until we made it to the highway. Luck was with us, and we didn't see anybody on the road. As Wirrawee grew larger before us, I felt butterflies in my stomach. Little did I realize what I would find in that town…but it would change my life forever, in ways I'd never expected.

END Chapter 04