The fourth horseman
Eleck passed me a chill-box of vaccine off the back of the truck, I stacked it beside me, along with the others, only two boxes high, to protect the fragile contents. Vinnya and the the man who's name I could never remember because he almost never spoke were raising the pavilion in the clearing in the fael trees, there was already a big crowd of children getting underfoot. We stacked the boxes in the pavilion when they'd finished it, Vinnya started unpacking the field kitchen, people generally started turning up en masse in the evenings, so we'd eat first before becoming part of the assembly line of names, medical histories, vaccination, keeping an eye out for people reacting badly to the drug. I set up a couple of cots in the back of the tent, just in case, put Eleck's medical case down behind where he'd be sat. I uncrated the radio so Eleck could keep in touch with the other teams, I had the Panphone in my pocket to update the Doctor and Jack about numbers, and any signs that the virus was taking hold faster than anticipated. I wasn't a hell of a lot of use, not being a medic, or able to write Atraxian, but Eleck was one of the area co-ordinators, so I was the contact point for supply. Lines of serious, good-natured people began forming before we'd cleared away the supper plates, I washed up.
They vaccinated about 300 people that evening, it was about local midnight when it was all done, Vinn was handing round cups of toka which was horrible, and quite unlike tea, Eleck was sharing reports with the other teams, I waited up til he was done before turning in, in case anything needed reporting back to the Doctor, but all, it seemed, was going as expected.
Another group of people arrived the next morning, from other villages, and Eleck spoke to the village organisers on the radio, and decided we may as well remain here for several days and treat those who came. Eleck ended up on the phone to the Doctor, to compare figures, projections and scan information, as more people were coming in from farther away than they had thought, by the sound of one end of the conversation the Doctor was preparing to take the Tardis and restock on vaccine now, rather than four day's time. He snapped the phone shut with a grin and tossed it to me, "All good." Vinnya came round with mycoprotein sandwiches for everyone, and people in the queue began to wander off to the foodstalls that had set up round the clearing.
I was washing the taste of the sandwich out of my mouth with toka when I heard an explosion, then a whole string of them to our left- from the direction of the village, a shadow like a nightmare dragonfly moved between us and the main star, and then an ear shattering force knocked me to the ground and filled the air with grit and debris, when I came to my senses and staggered up, spitting dirt I could hear explosions over away to our right, there was a lull of silence for a second, then the crying out began. I ran towards it, but there were bodies everywhere, I was too numb to tell if they were alive or not- the ones that were whole, anyway (nightmare images of parts of people strewn around). I went and got the medikit from the truck, hopping over prone people, practically flung it at Maki, the nurse, in order to clamp both hands where hers had been round the stump of a man's arm that was pumping blood as he screamed, people were stumbling around in the chaos now, and the screaming had started in earnest. Maki dug a hand into the man's armpit to try and clamp the artery while she applied sealant with the other hand, after several layers the blood slowed to a trickle, and she began to bandage it. Someone staggered into where the pavilion had been, coughing up blood, and then they collapsed, our driver rolled him over and laid a hand on the pulse in his neck, looked up and shook his head. Someone stumbled in with what was clearly a dead child in their arms. I ran round holding wounds and stepping over wounded and dead. Finally I thought of the Panphone, pulled it out of my pocket and hit 1, all that came back was static. Vinnya went to the radio but got static too. People started muttering about "Conodans", and "Algernac", not words I knew. I didn't step out of the wrecked pavilion for hours, when I did it was devastation, most of the people left there were dead, one or two were still bleeding, eyes glazed, certain to die. Vinnya gestured to the village, said "Bandages." I had a terrible feeling about the village.
There was a lot more wounded there, and masses of shattered buildings, a few able bodied trying to bandage people up. I went back to the clearing, stopped and tore the material off the stalls, where they weren't splattered with blood, and went back to where the pavilion had been and told them the village was worse. The expression on Eleck's face was awful to see. He began shouting out about wound severity, and organising people into groups, he had this most awful expression on his face all the while, I knew what this meant, triage, having to leave the most injured to die, because others might be saved, I felt completely numb, and I was glad of it.
The medics had ripped up the pavilion cloth, Vinnya was trying the radio again, he got a response, and shouted to everybody, it was from another village- there were reports of massive injuries and bombing attacks there too, everybody on their feet looked really grim, the injured just looked frightened. I tried the Panphone again- static, was the Doctor dead too?
I didn't realise how late it was til the light started to go, Vinnya ran around trying to find all the components of the generator lights, suddenly realising I was parched I looked for the water, there was almost none left, I grabbed one of the guys, asked if there was a stream or something, I really wasn't sure there'd be much still working in the village, he just shook his head, I started asking the less injured, someone pointed, I grabbed a container and went looking. In the end I only found it because the last of the light flickered on it's surface, and the trickling sound broke through the murmur of voices, I filled it, kicking myself for not searching for the lid first, I tasted it cautiously- not that I had any choice, it seemed better than thirst. I carried it carefully back to the clearing. Vinnya nodded at me and began boiling a huge pan of water on the battered stove. Someone had started moving the dead away from the pavilion remains. I suddenly realised I could hear rotor engines- the flying gunships! It got louder and everybody froze, then it faded away without coming closer, people looked at each other. Vinnya ran to the truck and pulled something out of a box under the seats, he came back with an ugly projectile rifle in either hand, "Kate, can you shoot?" I nodded reluctantly, not wanting to admit that Jack, the Jack from my time, had made me learn. I hated it. Vinnya threw me a gun, "We have to protect the doctors and the wounded." I looked out at the clearing in the gathering darkness, some poor bastard was still groaning out there, I nodded, he showed me how to cock it.
When I woke up in the morning, someone had removed more bodies, and the smell was starting to get bad. I went to Vinn and asked if we had any flammables, he just stared at me. I took a piece of mycobread from the pile, and began searching the wreckage for the spade I'd seen, and anything else useful. I found some bulbs and wiring, and a case of medical equipment, mostly unbroken, which made the doctors happier, eventually, I found another water container lid, took that to Vinnya too. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and gestured me to help them carry a corpse away, I didn't want to but this needed to be done, I slung the gun on my back and grabbed the body as well as I could. Corpses, like drunk people, are hard to carry. We didn't carry them far. There were a lot of bodies. When we heard rotors again I dropped the body I was carrying and ran back towards the clearing centre, Vinnya ran out with a gun and started shooting straight away, I tried to remember how to cock the thing as the hovering spectre came closer to us, in panic I closed my finger on the trigger, the kickback nearly took me off my feet, I recovered and re-aimed, nearly straight up by now, and hoping the design was analogous with earth helicopters, shot at the tail rotor, the gunship wobbled for a second, then gained height and sped away. They'd be back.
When I came back from moving bodies there was a discussion going on, the doctors wanted to move into one of the few remaining buildings in the village, and treat everyone in one place, Vinn and several others argued this was too exposed. They started asking the locals about any other shelter close by, it turned out there were caves a couple of miles away, people began packing stuff up, making backpacks for the able to carry, so the wounded could go on the truck, it would take several loads, then we could return for people in the village, Vinnya went with the convoy, as the other gun I stayed put. Armed with my pea-shooter against the bombers.
Thankfully it had been quiet. Miko made me wash because I stank from handling the dead. The Panphone gave only silence. The radio crackled a couple of times, more reports of bombings, but further north, I gathered, no-one knew what had happened in the capital.
As far as we could gather the bombers did not seem to be flying much at night, so Vinn and Maki brought the truck back down before dark and stopped at the clearing for the night. Vinn asked for the Panphone, to see if he could do anything with it, I handed it over, I'd tried all the buttons, but I didn't know what the Doctor had done to it, monkey with a mobile phone, me.
We heard rotors around mid-morning, as we were loading the truck. me and Vinn ran out into the clearing, so we could see maximum sky all around, they came from the west, which lent weight to the idea of a sizeable invasion force, they'd been reported in the north yesterday. Vinn opened up as soon as they came in sight, I just tried to hit it, aware I only had so many bullets. The cockpit glass had to be strengthened, but if the technology was similar to my time's- and it looked like it was- it was still a weakness. The glass starred from my bullet, the pilot yawed the gunship wildly and flew hastily away.
"Conodans." said Vinnya, and spat on the ground. The gunship had carried no markings. People started hurrying patients to the truck, I tied up supplies- water containers, a little food, bits of equipment, with strips of cloth, often bloodstained- that which hadn't been used for bandages- or possibly had, for the people making the trek. I took up watch with the remaining survivors, helping people eat, drink, walk to the latrine. A couple more in the clearing had died, we moved the bodies, I had to pry one weeping girl away from her parent, I took her to Maki, who got some water down her and tried to make her eat a little, Maki hugged her, which was as well, because I smelt of the bodies I'd been carrying, I wanted to go and wash, but the gunships had come on us too quickly for me to risk going to the stream. Searching in the wreckage I finally found the shovel. The truck came back quickly this time, people got loaded up fast and then we were all off, trekking up into the green hills behind the truck following it's own ruts through the forest. When we finally got there- a series of overflowing caves under an outcrop- I was handed a water container and pointed back downhill, I went for my wash. To my surprise there was roasted meat on a stick for food, someone had been trapping rodent-like beasts, by the size of the bones. There wasn't going to be a lot of food, so I ate it. And then, like I did every night, I said a mani mantra for the dead and suffering. One mantra, for all this suffering, how can this be enough? I started to cry. When I finally stopped, someone handed me a cup of water, I guessed both species reacted the same to crisis.
Now I was camp guard here, which just meant I had to keep the gun close, mostly, while I went gathering water, leaves and grass for bedding, washing clothes, bedding and bandages. Digging graves. The truck, Vinn, Eleck and Maki took off down to the village. We only heard rotors faintly that day, but I feared for the people wherever it was. The truck came back late, with not very many people, a pile of scavenged tat, and all the crew grim faced and drained. That night we started hearing reports off the radio from scattered villages we could reach, and relayed from others by them, of armoured ground vehicles, and uniformed troops- to no-one's surprise the uniforms were Conodan. Eleck said he didn't want to move until he had to- they had no idea where to go, there'd only been one report of a provincial centre carpet bombed, and none from the others at all, there was about half charge on the truck's batteries, and many of the patients would benefit from not being moved given there were no painkillers left. Vinn and the truck driver wanted to try other villages for supplies, news, wounded, Eleck hesitated, then agreed, "But if you can't find any more power supplies we must save a reserve for moving the wounded from here." People nodded, faces carried various expressions of weariness, anger, sadness, sorrow. They could only do so much.
The only good news from a local village was three spare truck batteries and a large pile of stale mycobread. I dug a new latrine, and more graves. There were more reports on the radio of troops moving in, one of the radios who'd been communicating with us for days went silent. Eleck ordered the truck and supplies to be rigged to move at any moment, people began parcelling out jobs in the increasing likelihood of an evacuation. Vinn and the driver rigged up jump wires to the spare batteries so the van could run continuously. There were bruised sani fruit from a village orchard that night, to go with the mycobread, and cup of rodent stew. The day after that another radio went silent, after screaming out a warning about troops, Eleck shouted to evacuate now. I helped carry patients to the truck, then ran back and gathered up my responsibilities, put the homemade slings for the shovel and water containers over my shoulders and began to walk. They were heavy.
We stopped at an abandoned, isolated, farmhouse, as it began to get dark. People hastened to unload, set up lights, gather fuel, fortunately the farm still had a functional latrine out back, which was good, because I was done in. There wasn't enough room inside for everybody, but the dry season on Atraxia was fairly consistent, I was woken up for rat soup and dry mycobread, then curled up to sleep again by the sun-warmed house wall.
The house yielded only a sack of cholo roots, it meant, at least, that the farmers had got away in good order. The truck driver, Milay, did a quick scan of the fields and said everything had been harvested for the dry season, he took one of my water containers and found a place to tie it onto the side of the truck. The only radio contact had been with a far off village who hadn't seen troops yet. we loaded up and moved off. We saw smoke on the horizon after a few hours, but it was thin, and very spread out, as from a large fire mostly burned out. At midday we found it- the remains of a village, there was almost nothing to scavenge, we kept going. We parked up in the woods that night, I found a space clear of tree roots and dug a small latrine. There wasn't any news on the radio. The group felt safe enough to build a fire for warmth. I had to dig another grave in the morning, but this one wasn't very big, one of the children had died.
At midday someone shouted for the convoy to halt, held up a hand for silence, he was right, heavy vehicles directly ahead. He pointed to the trees on the left, where the ground looked flatter, and the truck bounced gently off the road back into the woods, we hastened after. They kept driving, I hung back at the end of the line, partly to see, I wasn't sure what my rifle could do against armoured vehicles. I grabbed a branch and dragged it over the wheel tracks at the edge of the woods, they weren't too obvious by the road, but there was no time, I pelted after the convoy. They pulled the truck round the back of a hill and cut the engine. Vinn climbed a fael tree with surprising speed, stopped in thick foliage. I crawled to the skyline of the hill on my belly and peered thru a shrub, rifle in my hand. I couldn't see the road directly ahead, I'd have to rely on Vinn. I saw the armoured convoy through a gap in the tree further up the road, looked like a tank and a troop carrier, crap. I waited, the seconds crawling like ants across my skin, trying to hear any change in the note of the vehicles, which I then heard. The note changed to idling, for a few minutes, long enough to unload a troop carrier, then started up again with the crashing of trees. I slithered back down the hill as fast as I could, "They're coming, one tank, one truck of troops." Eleck gestured to start the truck, it lurched into motion, he signalled the able bodied to scatter into the trees, I set off to the opposite side of the group from Vinn, thinking vaguely about crossfire, the sound of the tank's engines began to be heard over the truck, then it got MUCH louder as it turned around the edge of the hill towards us, and fired. The truck blew up instantly, the blast knocked me down but I got up and checked for others of the group, I signalled them towards denser trees and followed at the back, Maki, Eleck, Vinn, Malay, all the wounded...I tasted bile in the back of my throat. I stopped running when I realised the sound of engines was dying away, I ran back. I found Maki dead with a bullet wound in her back, then two others closer to the truck, no sight or sound of the troops, I shut my eyes when I got to where the truck had been, then I opened them to make sure no-one had survived, but they kept blurring, I wiped them, and my hand came away wet. It was deathly quiet. I realised that even if they weren't dead there was nothing I, or anyone left, could do to help them. I turned my back on the crater and it's grisly ejecta and began to look for food, water, essentials. I took the pack of food off Mika, the blood had only stained the outside, no matter how hungry I might ever be, I did not think I could have brought myself to eat her blood if it had soaked into the bread. Then a twig snapped behind me, and I whirled, Vinn, and Eleck with a bandage around his side, I dropped the food and ran to them, hugged Vinn and cried, patted Eleck's face. Someone else had survived.
We collected what we could, and retreated to the deepest patch of scrub we could find, we found two more people, Chiarl and Parta, we were never going to find Milay. Eleck was white with pain most of the time. Some time after dark, I heard a quavering voice say "Hallo..?"
"Over here." I called, covering their approach with my rifle just in case, four of our group stumbled up to our tiny fire. Andr, Betir, Pinar, and Shekil. It was very good to see them. At dawn I was woken by another, Asna, shivering with cold, finding her way to us. So we set up shouts and whistles to see if there were others, gambling the troops would be far away from us now, they hadn't after all, unloaded the troops, those of the group who were shot were shot from the turret of the tank. We found two more people, Eva, Erris, and during a sweep later that day found Parnal with a leg wound, if he hadn't been a doctor and known how to bind his own wound he would definitely had bled to death. We checked again, and scavenged as much of the wreckage as we could bear to get close to, but we didn't find anyone else. Vinn began to build travois bound with wire from the trucks, in case we had to move, for Eleck and Parnel, he also brought down a couple of tree rodents with an improvised sling, I felt completely inadequate watching him. Because most of our baggage had been carried by able bodied people we could salvage it, so food wasn't a problem yet. It would be better if we found somewhere warmer to shelter at night, but moving with no destination in mind when it wasn't necessary seemed pointless with our wounded, Eleck didn't look well. None of the group knew this area well, so Vinn said we should scout, and ran us through the types of plants he knew could be eaten. "Childhood in the woods." He explained.
The best shelter we found was a shack in the woods, it had half a roof, from there we went out in search of food, fuel, arms, anything really, Eleck was adamant we should stay off the road, but we paralleled it nevertheless to find settlements. The nearest two in either direction were flattened, we didn't see any signs of life. I found a partly wrecked car in a ditch, it looked like it would go if we could pull it out- and find a battery. There didn't seem to be anything else within a day's reach. Me and Vinn couldn't agree who should go, I ached like I hadn't slept for a week, but I said Vinn was more valuable for his technical expertise, and ability to provide the camp with food. In the end it was the food decided it. I was given a small cache of nuts and I went off south.
I jogged and walked, staying under the trees, I didn't dare be visible from afar. The woods were quiet and still. The land opened out to either side after the burned out village, I skirted it in the trees, Vinn had checked here already. Beyond the village there was a crossroads, I crossed over and kept going south, away from the mass of the invasion from our last information. There was nothing, and no-one, to see. I burrowed into the undergrowth when it got dark, lit a tiny fire in a sheltered nook with one of Eleck's matches and the leaves I'd carried all day in my pack. It was cold, but I got a few snatches of sleep. I covered my fire when it got light enough to see, drank the last of my water, and cracked the tiny store of nuts, they tasted fantastic, but there was half a handful of kernels. I walked along keeping my ears peeled for the sound of water and picking Taele leaves to chew, they tasted like lawn mowings, but Vinn swore they were edible. I thought I heard, far off, an engine of some kind, I froze to fix it's position. I didn't think I really had any choice at this point, so I headed off towards it. Which is when I heard shooting, I began to run. The shooting stopped way before I could get close to it, but I kept going, enemies or allies were there. Then I heard a single, small vehicle coming towards me, gunning it, the engine sounding off-key. I ran out of the woods and waved my arms, jumping up and down, this really didn't sound like an army to me, guns pointed out of the small covered vehicle at me, they were dirty, haggard, and in a different uniform than I'd seen before. "Who are you?" they shouted,
"I was helping out a vaccination team, where are you going? We have doctors." Their faces brightened,
"Where?"
I pointed back down the road, "Past the crossroad, the burnt out village, in the woods. Are the Conodans chasing you?"
One of them looked over his shoulder, "No."
"Climb on board." Said the driver. I scrambled into the place where the boot had been, and hung on.
"Are there more of you? Soldiers?"
"Yes, but everybody's scattered, we're going to meet up and go to an arms dump." The man beside the driver shouted over the row of the engine and the rush of air thru the shattered windows.
"Two of the doctors are wounded, we have no supplies- they were all on the truck. I know where there is a vehicle like this in a ditch, looks like it might run with a battery." The man nodded vigorously. "One of our guys is a mechanic and hunter." The man nodded again,
"Good. Very good."
It took us til dark to find the camp, I pointed out the car on the way, the group were very glad to see us, and shared their meagre hunting. It turned out the soldiers were from an army camp to the north, and like everybody else had been caught off guard- and off base, when the invasion hit. They were fairly sure where parts of the army were and were trying to catch up with them. They'd run across a troop carrier and armoured vehicle and managed to run the blockade before the tank got a bead on them- which had to be shear luck. We needed to be moving soon. I bedded down with my rifle beside me, like I had for days now. People were up before it was light enough to see well, we put the wounded in the car and everybody else jogged along behind back to the ditched vehicle, with a rope and a lot of people, we pulled it out, Vinn kicked the fender away from the wheel, and checked under the hood, then produced scavenged wire from his pack and we were able to jump start the car. The soldiers tied ropes across the roofs for us to hang onto, and we piled onto the vehicles, and trundled, far more sedately than before, off to the south. After a hungry camp, we found a farmstead the next day, there was flour, and sani, and kaela- which was kind of cabbage. I always found you have to be pretty hungry to eat cabbage, but they made a stew of it- to which Vinn belatedly added a rodent- and we ate it with flatbread. Then we piled everything- including the stewpot- in, and on, the cars and went. The next day we began to see people walking down the sides of the road, in small groups, they put a few more wounded on the cars, and some of us got off to walk. It was nearly dark when we made it to the impromptu army post behind the vehicles, I was fit to drop, there were about fifty people all told, but more straggling in all the time from the countryside, someone was handing out guns and people crowded round a soldier giving instructions on how to use them. We went searching for our friends, when we found them they gave us canned rations from the army stores. The medics were already at work in part of the building, and Eleck and Parnel were being cared for- between giving advice to others. The army guys were digging ditches around the building, a wizened old man was in nominal charge, he pointed and told me to help them. Most of the soldiers slept in the ditches, in case the Conodans came up on us in the night, but all was quiet.
I talked to the people around me, the soldiers said they had some RPGs and beam weapons that could bring down the helicopter gunships, and radio communications said a portion of the army was massing in the south, preparing to come north, but they weren't sure how quickly they'd be here, we couldn't hold out without armoured support, how long could we wait? We knew armoured vehicles were less than a day away, but people said the columns had split into small groups, a tank and a truck or two, I was surprised- they'd stuck to their battle plan even though the population weren't sickened and dying? People looked at me, yes, I did think it was deliberate, I'd been working with the team that planned the response to the virus outbreak, even without the serendipitous timing of the invasion the continent-wide outbreak has been unusual, to say the least. What I wouldn't have given for a gunship and an ear on their communications. There were still people trickling in, I said a tank had fired without hesitation on our truck full of wounded, and shot members of our party down, either we needed to move back or prevent the tanks getting in range of us, could we lay traps?
In the morning I went to the gaggle of soldiers gathered around the old bloke, asked about preventing the tanks getting in firing range of this place, because they'd fired on a truck of wounded and refugees without hesitation, he nodded, pointed to the tops of two one storey buildings by the road in, then said a watch post would be set up the edge of the woods further up the road.
"Can you shoot that thing?" he said, I nodded, and he sent me and a soldier off, with extra ammo and a hand communicator to sit on one of the rooftops. Manno, the soldier introduced himself, showed me how to use the RPG, then said he'd take the first watch, I should get some more sleep, we wouldn't be needed until we were needed. I woke up with Manno slapping me on the shoulder,
"They've reached the woods." I got up, slipped off the roof for a piss, scrambled back up, the radio had gone silent, the team had lit out, one truck and one tank incoming. With a sense of unreality I waited for the sound of the tank, it was gunning it's engine, smoke trailed from the turret, Manno hefted the RPG and began tracking them, the truck behind them was racing, swerving, I waited for Manno to get his shot, the roar when the RPG went off was deafening, I opened up at the tank, then at the truck that swerved past it, at the driving position, then, belatedly, at the tyres when I thought about it, when the smoke of the impact cleared from the tank, we saw the turret swivel, but smoke could be seen pouring out of what looked like a hole in the armour on the front, I concentrated my fire on the hole. Then the top of the turret opened and a figure partially emerged, only to flop over as Manno shot, I turned back to the truck, which began spilling soldiers, bile in my throat, I sprayed fire around them, cut them off when they tried to retreat, Manno swivelled his gun towards them, "Hold it! They can tell us stuff." One of the soldiers fell with a bullet through his leg, and another dropped and lay still,
"Hold fire!" Yelled Manno at the other roof,
"Drop your weapons!" I yelled at the soldiers,
"Or die where you stand!" Came the yell from the other roof, the hesitation spread, and the group began to stand still, someone dropped a rifle and raised their hands, Manno snatched up the radio and called for people to come and get them. We climbed down when a group came from the depot to get them, the tank looked fucked, and blocked the road quite well, the driver of the truck was dead, shot in several places, I swallowed. Manno opened the driver's door and pulled out the man's body, he gave a yell of triumph, they had a radio. Someone went far enough up the burning tank to pull the dead soldier out, but they couldn't see in. I wondered what fate lay in store for the captured soldiers. At dusk some people came to relieve us.
The camp was abuzz with what had occurred, we had more weapons, and another truck, a radio to listen in on, but the captured soldiers didn't seem to know much, the officer- and his orders- had been in the tank. I recalled the use of molatovs, and asked if we could force soldiers out by firing the outside of the tank, they seemed to think about that, the weapon was certainly worth consideration if need be. The little old man said they would search the tank tomorrow, when the fire had gone down. Someone yelled that the Coradan's were communicating on the captured radio, but it seemed to be routine traffic about troop movements some distance north of us. It seemed we didn't have enough transport for both the people and the equipment, so we were going to stay put for now.
The next day another tank and truck came on us at dusk, the RPGs took the whole turret off the tank, the soldiers were bolder because it was darker, and scattered, not listening to shouts telling them to surrender, I am sure I shot two. I sat down where I was and felt sick, Manno yelled in triumph and ran down to see what we'd got, I forced myself up to peer over the edge of the roof, in case we missed one. No one not us moved.
The old man back at main camp said we had to move now, it wasn't coincidence, they must have come looking for their lost patrol, more would come, heavier armed, and we had just enough vehicles for the wounded, we even had the base of the tank- after someone hammered down the ragged edges of the metal. People began sorting out packs to carry supplies, anything we couldn't take the soldiers wanted to destroy, I said they should try and hide it in several places, but time was short- someone knew of a cellar in town, some stuff was stashed down there. Most began to turn in for a few hours sleep before we bugged out at dawn.
I found myself with a half piece of mycobread, and a heavy pack, in a convoy of partly armed civilians and soldiers, surrounding slow vehicles ferrying wounded and large kit, the tank was pulling a damaged car, but it took so much fuel we probably wouldn't have it for long. After half an hour there was a boom behind us, and the spare material went up. The old man had said they needed to destroy something or it wouldn't be convincing. Wiley old dog. We didn't see any other people on the road that morning, someone passed me more mycobread when the sun was high, I washed it down with a quarter of my canteen. We walked through fields of dry brown grass, past wrecked houses, and through one flattened village, burned corpses still in the street.
At dusk we pulled off the road into a wood, bless the old dog for organising- he even sent someone round to tell everyone where the latrine would be, and the food, command, the watches, the medics, I guessed we had about 200 now, it was quiet enough to have fires, some people even had tarps, we had good stew brought from the stores. I had a coat someone had given me from stores, and people began to sleep next to each other for warmth. My heart nearly shot out of my chest when Manno woke me for watch. When it got light and we were relieved I fell asleep again, right where I was. Manno kicked me awake again to fill canteens and get a wash, I ached, but I thought I could carry the pack for another day.
We began to see people again, one or two were put straight on the vehicles, the rest given bread and water and in one case- physically towed along with us, he had dried blood on his head, and stumbled along, staring at the ground, someone towed him over to a doctor. Around midday we began to hear a drone out of the north, people began to wave others off the road, we put our backs behind the towed vehicle to get it into the scant cover of a small copse- we were in big trouble- I checked the gun and rested it on a tree branch, people scattered out into ditches, under hedges, grim, knowing people were going to die, and all we could do was spread out and take our chances, I hoped someone pulled the medics away from the vehicles- god help the wounded- because no-one else would. In minutes I saw a formation of three, no, four gunships, flying in a diamond toward us, I waited for the first RPG to go off. It went off with a whoosh and I opened up, going instantly deaf from the racket behind me, I sprayed shot constantly on the cockpit of the front ship, abruptly it tipped and ploughed into the ground, I swapped to the next closest- much too close, close enough to fire, it got off a shot into the trees and I shouted at them in hatred, jammed my finger on the trigger of the rifle- Die! Die, you bastards, before you kill them all.
Blessedly, an RPG hit the third gunship before it could fire, the second had burst into fire by now, so I focused fire on the fourth, now turning away from us, they'd probably reported back by now anyway, but I aimed at the cockpit, the tanks, the tail rotor as it turned, it began to fly back, trailing smoke, and it flew away. Then 30 seconds later there was a boom, and a big trail of black smoke went up into the sky and hung there. I turned around and ran to the main body of the convoy, the soldiers were all ahead of me.
There'd been a hit between two vehicles, they were wrecked, there was blood everywhere, and other things, I helped someone pick someone up, not knowing if they were wounded or dead, we carried them away from the wreckage, laid them down in the field, I put my fingers to the young man's neck, I couldn't feel anything, I turned back to get more.
By dusk there were people laid out all around, a few grim medics trying to tie bandages, the sounds of weeping and groaning, I checked every body I came to, increasing numbers were dead. I was afraid to move them, in case it was me who was too numb to feel, not them. I began to collect firewood, dump it in clear areas, someone had the sense to look for lights, and a few blankets and coats appeared. There were no orders being given, there was no organisation, I sat down with my back against a tree, and my rifle against my shoulder, and stared north.
I woke up in grey dawn, cold, with a fierce headache, aching body, and dry throat, I saw dead fires and still people. I went to the copse to start salvaging. I didn't see anyone I knew by name. I found a water barrel, pulled it out and began to drag it out of the trees, someone turned to help me, we manhandled it under a tree by what were probably sleeping medics, we went back and pulled out food, covers, equipment, and tried to ignore the odd bit of someone thrown about by the explosion. Someone set the stove up, and began boiling water, I went out to do the dreadful duty of looking for the obviously dead. I pulled them away from camp, to a ditch, remembering eventually to mutter a mantra over them- this was all the burial they were going to get for now.
When I got back a soldier was talking to a small crowd, we had two vehicles left, one was the tank, the military radio from the captured truck, and about 30 wounded who probably weren't going to make it, the Conodans would be back so we could not hang about, some of the people turned and walked off then and there, he shouted that they couldn't take more than a canteen and a couple of bits of bread, but some didn't even seem to take that. I shouted at them to take something, or stay, and we'd go together, a few seemed to hear. The soldier said at least three medics were dead, and one like to die, the old man was dead, and a whole list of people I didn't know. The remaining radio talked about scattered troop movements to the north but we couldn't hear our own side. He said we should all take weapons. I took another recharge clip for the rifle, someone pressed a knife into my hand.
I went to find the medics, Andr and Betir were still alive, the dying medic was Eleck, they sat grim faced beside him, trickling water into his mouth, I walked around the sprawled camp, I couldn't find Manno, or Vinn, or anyone else, I found another group of medics and asked them what they wanted, I got them some water, found them some food, then I dragged some more dead people away. Finally, someone in the copse found a shovel, and I began to dig a latrine. About midafternoon, a shout went up, and people began to meet at the stove. I got a cup of stew and bread, I went to see Eleck, and asked if he was hungry, he whispered, "No." His upper body was almost covered in blood now, it had soaked through the bandages, there was nothing we could do, and he knew it, so someone or other sat by him, and waited. I went back to digging the hole, and then I moved a few more bodies, then I looked for wood, someone had found an axe, so the fires would be bigger that night, but we couldn't stay here any longer. Someone had a lamp lit over by one of the vehicles, working late on the innards, I almost didn't recognise Vinn, his face was black and blue, and he had trouble speaking, but his arms were grimy to the elbow and he nodded at me as he worked. I was happy to see him, then instantly desolate again at the loss that surrounded me. It didn't seem right- it didn't seem possible, to be happy, not for a long time to come.
In the morning Eleck was dead, and about a dozen others, I began to work on the sides of the ditch, to try and cover them, but there were so many, and it wasn't that deep, some people came and helped me, inbetween crying, someone I was trying to cover must have been theirs. A shitty way for a loved one's life to end.
Before I was finished I heard vehicles start up, I went to see what the plan was, if there was a plan. The soldier from last night, Enki, now seemed to be in charge. The plan was simple enough- head south, people began filling packs. I shoved mine full of food, ammo, grenades, some medical supplies, and hung some tools off it. I yelled that there weren't many bodies left to cover up, and a big group came to help finish up, they kicked the soil down, and I tried to spread it out with the shovel, trying not to stand on the bodies as I did so. Then I shoved some earth down the latrine. People began to assemble by the vehicles, which were absolutely covered in sitting wounded leaning on each other, someone was piling chopped down branches in a corner, and throwing earth and weeds over it- a stash of what we couldn't carry. And then we began to walk, I found myself leaning on the shovel as I walked, I was so tired. We can't have made more than 5 or 6 miles before people began falling back, it was only about mid-afternoon, but Enki waved us off the road, towards a thicker belt of woods about a mile away. Then we had to set up camp. I dropped my pack, dug a latrine, then sank down within sight of the stove and nodded off over my gun. The shuffle of people lining up for food woke me. I've never been so glad to see crappy army meat stew and musty-tasting mycobread, to complete the insult, some made toka. Enki wanted guards, I almost tried to hide, but he was pointing round at people, he pointed at me, "I can only do a few hours." I interjected, I was sure I looked as shit as I felt, he pointed at a lot of people, said,
"Two hour shifts." I was intensely relieved, even when it was two shifts- dusk and dawn.
By full light there were two more graves to dig, but only two. I went to use the ditch again, people didn't look happy, but I said, "There's only one shovel." One of them took it, and we began to spell each other, they started to dig one hole, for their friend, when my turn came I began to make it larger, saying, "We are comrades in this." So we dug. This time there was bread and toka before we started walking. I tried to scrub the dirt off my hands with grass, but it didn't really work, we were all filthy and stinking now, no-one wanted to waste the water. I clamped the butt of the rifle under my armpit, wrapped my hand around the trigger guard and walked with the weight resting on my hip, waiting for the next attack. We got a brew up at midday and some kind of crackers, by the side of the road- the vehicles pulled under overhanging trees, people were already beginning to lag, someone died on a vehicle, so, with a small group I shanghaied, we had time to dig them a hole. When the laggers caught up, they didn't get a lot of rest, but the worst- a child being carried- got a place on the vehicle. A medic looked at him and shook his head, he said it was haadenpox, I was told it was weakness and insanitary conditions, and curable. If we had the drugs.
In the afternoon we heard gunfire, and what sounded like a heavy mortar, over to our left, I couldn't estimate the distance. The radio hadn't warned us of this, there must be multiple frequency bands, or code. The vehicles began to speed up, some people began to jog with them, but I stayed to walking pace, I was bone tired, my pack was heavy, and there were people who couldn't run, I dropped back so guns were spread more evenly along the column, I was determined to try and get at least some of these people to safety. We came in sight of a crossroads, 3 branches lay in the road, making an arrow south, I threw them in the hedge, the back of the column were still in sight. We heard more gunfire from down the road, and people speeded up if they could, the column stretched out again, I dropped further back, looking over my shoulder down the east road, I saw some people running across a field in our direction, I wasn't sure whether they were being chased, I yelled out and set my rifle on the branch of a shrub to track them, I couldn't see any uniform insignia, somebody yelled from further down the column, but I couldn't discern what they said, someone in the column picked up the shout and relayed it, "They're ours!" I began to track behind them, along hedgelines back towards the road, people were hurrying past behind me now, there was another yell, but I saw it too, movement in the hedge! A gun opened up down the column, I yelled that I could see people behind them, to hurry people up, but I didn't want to fire til I was sure, then I heard shots ring out from that direction, decision made, I started shooting, further up the column several voices were yelling at people to hurry up, maybe the runners had made it to us, firing came from there as well. Little bits of earth began to fly from the field in front of me. The back of the column began to pass behind me, people panting with exertion and fear, two soldiers came up, firing and running by turns, I began to copy their action, run, stop, fire, run past the guys, stop, fire while they ran past you. Abruptly the firing from the hedge diminished, only two- no, three guns. It didn't matter, they knew we were here.
The shooting dropped off as we drew away, we walked behind the column, knowing we were on borrowed time, I couldn't see anything more substantial than hedges for people to hide in, if any kind of vehicle came they were meat. I heard rotors, I screamed, "Gunship!", and waved people off the road to the right, same as last time, they'd have to take their chances in the hedge, I dived into the hedge beside me, pushed the rifle through a clear space and aimed towards the sound, I could see one soldier in the tail of my eye, setting up under a tree, I wasn't sure where the other was. I started shooting as soon as the gunship appeared, on the offchance of a hit, our luck wasn't in, it flew close and let off a missile, my hearing blanked out, something shoved me in the back, dirt and bits of stuff hit the back of my head, I aimed at the cockpit and just kept my finger clamped on the trigger, abruptly the chopper slewed sideways and the rotors hit the ground, ploughing huge gashes, shattering and flinging high-speed metal scything towards us, then the body hit and crumpled into a blinding fireball, I turned my face away from the intense heat and was shoved out of the hedge by the volatile stinking blast. When I picked myself up everything was strangely quiet, I could still feel the heat of the burning fuel through the hedge but I couldn't really hear the fire, the other soldier was getting up, I touched him on the arm, he said something, I pointed to my ear and shook my head, he nodded. The tree where the other soldier had been was shattered stump, we wouldn't find him. All-in-all, we'd been lucky. Only one dead, but one of our guns. The other soldier began shouting and beckoning people out of the hedges, pointing ahead. We started to walk again, but fear made the tailback hurry, and we were able to walk quite swiftly behind them. Oddly no other choppers came, others might be busy, but I couldn't know if there was any more shooting or mortars, maybe there wasn't. Were they still travelling in small units? How thinly were the gunships spread? Four was the most I'd seen, and they'd found the column, probably not accidentally, but only a single gunship after? They must have known we were here after they lost four. Thinly spread, communications difficulties? I thought the movement reports from the radio must be very interesting.
The soldier beside me heard something, and stared back the way the armed men and gunship had come, I looked, but I had to rely on his ears. More shooting? Then they were otherwise engaged- which was good- we might get away, and there was more resistance- and bad- there were more troops and armour out there. We kept walking until it was nearly dark, looking for the front of the column's camp, the soldier didn't hear anything else that took his attention. Finally we saw people stepping off the road ahead of us, there was a guard there, he pointed to the woods. There were no fires or lights, it took a moment to be able to see under the thick fael canopy. I saw piles of wood ready for lighting when darkness fell to hide the smoke, and the stove was up and running, I followed the soldier to where Enki and some of the other soldiers were, I could just about hear talking, but I couldn't decipher it. Enki listened to what the soldier said, then nodded at us both, we went to join the queue at the stove. No-one seemed to want me to guard, so I found a place near a fire and curled up next to some people with my head on my pack.
Someone jostled me hard, and I heard quite clearly the crack of gunfire close by, I rolled to my feet, I could see by the dying fires, people were running past me, I ran towards whatever it was. I saw someone very definitely in a Conodan uniform, I raised the rifle and fired as I ran, he folded up, I ran over and grabbed his gun, handed it to someone, then I saw a knot of Conodan soldiers fighting hand-to-hand with people, shooting when they could bring their guns to bear, I ran over there, trying to pick an exposed target, two saw me coming, one raised a gun, but I couldn't shoot, he wasn't clear, I threw myself on the ground, something whizzed over me, I rolled over and ran towards them again, there were people all around them, there was a crack and somebody slumped down with a breathy sigh, I swung my rifle butt around, jumped through the gap and rammed it into a soldiers face with all of my momentum, he slumped, was momentarily supported by the crush and then sank out of sight, I jabbed the butt into the face of the next, stunning him for a moment, then he jerked and blood came out of his mouth, the soldier next to me pulled a knife out of him and slashed at the man behind him, I swung the rifle back round and fired point blank into the group, yelled, "Surrender or die!" There was no effect, I fired on automatic and sprayed the gun around, people jerked and a couple collapsed, I yelled it again. A couple in front of me stopped fighting, there were still fights to the left and right, I shot into a knot on the left. "Surrender!" One of the soldiers got a fatal shot in, a man dropped and things began to still there too, the whole group stopped fighting, weapons were grabbed and passed to others who pointed them at them, hands began to rise, a couple of rifles dropped to the ground, the soldiers were shoved back and the precious weapons taken up. They began to drop to their knees, one of the soldiers pulled a Conodan forward and searched him, throwing a knife and a canteen behind him, where they were gathered up, he pushed him away and started on another, I kept my gun on them all. The soldier yelled something- he held up papers, he handed it to someone and they hurried off. Eventually five of us were left to cover them, I found the energy to stand until daylight, which showed up the bleeding and the dead. Finally, Enki, and some grey-faced soldiers came toward us, he was limping badly and leaning on a stick cut from a tree. They conferred, then one of them cocked a handgun and walked towards one the prisoners, he put the gun to his head- there were no questions, no threats- this was an execution.
"No!" I advanced on the soldier, "Are you Conodan?" I got between him and the prisoners, they were saying things but I couldn't hear them, Enki looked grim and angry. "There's a better way!"
I turned back to the kneeling man who was looking a sickly shade of yellow with dread, and said, "Strip!" I slapped his shoulder with the rifle butt, yelled, "Strip!"
He rose shakily to his feet, I gestured with the rifle for him to hurry, he took one look behind my shoulder and fumbled hurriedly with his uniform, "Quickly!" I yelled, "Boots off!" When he pulled hopelessly at the muddied knot I pulled my knife out and slit the cord, "Everything off!" I yelled, and the terrified man stripped naked, but he hadn't been shot yet, I could see one guard smile as he stood there huddled with his hands over his crotch. "You!" I pointed at the next one, "Strip! Now!" Now I could definitely see laughing, I pointed at the next, "You! Kit off! Now!" I leaned down and threw the discarded kit to one side, Enki didn't look so angry now, he gestured somebody to search it. I made the prisoners strip, two by two, to their bare feet and arses. Some of them were shivering already, in the cold dawn. I walked to the edge of the group, the guards gave way. "Right." I yelled sarcastically, "Quick march!" I pointed north, "One-two-one-two! Hop to it!" They took the hint and jogged by me, towards the road, limping and shivering, someone threw something at one of them, I thought I could hear jeering. I watched them go, as people laughed. Then I looked at Enki. He wasn't happy. But he let them go.
I wasn't sure how happy I was when I saw dead from the camp laid out. Most of them civilians, people crying over some of them. But when I thought of standing there and watching ten people executed I didn't regret stopping it. I just wished we'd stopped them sooner. Enki was pointing the armed people out to the edge of the camp, the soldier from yesterday came up and spoke clearly to my face, I had to lipread most of it: "We go and guard." I nodded. Someone brought round toka and crackers after about an hour. I was beginning to feel dizzy from lack of sleep, as the adrenaline wore down, but the food revived me. There was always the chance of another attack. People around me began to organise to leave, someone brought packs for the soldier and me, the pack was heavy, I eased my sore shoulders under the straps, some of the people- not all, by any means, seemed happier, stripping the soldiers? Or something else?
After several hours I could hear people's feet on the road, and a vague rushing sound in my ears, I turned to the soldier beside me, and said, "What's your name?"
"Ah, " he laughed, "yours ears are coming back! I'm Amek."
"Pleased to meet you, I'm Kate."
"You know, you nearly got shot this morning, Enki was yelling "What are you doing, you crazy alien?" I told him you couldn't hear him." He laughed again."I'd like to send all the Conodan troops back home to their mothers buck naked! After we've shot their commanding officers."
I nodded.
We halted at midday, but briefly, we ate crackers from our packs, gave them to those with none, shared water. Then we walked. It was getting dark when Enki called a halt, he said, "No fires." There was only a hedge and ditch between us and the road, the land was open. We shared crackers and the last of the water. I huddled next to Amek and a couple of others for warmth. Someone woke us quietly during the night, to watch. In the morning Amek handed me four canteens, told me to go fill up, I found the water station, but was told, "Only half a canteen each." But it helped the crackers down.
We didn't halt at midday, and when we climbed over a slight rise in the land I saw why.
"Andrasier." Said Amek. The city looked badly bombed even from this distance, but I could see people moving towards it and vehicles. As we got closer I could see the smoke of small fires, and even a flying vehicle that no-one was frightened of. An army truck drove by us. We began to see people in uniform, and armed people in civvies, as well as refugees. When we reached the outskirts, they were flattened, and even tho rubble had been moved to the edge of the street and fires put out, there were still bodies here and there, Amek cursed. We passed a large gun emplacement, pointing back the way we came, then we came to a guard who waved us toward the centre of town, "Army command, med centre, all there." As we walked we were beginning to blend into a larger and larger mass of people, there were gutted buildings still standing, there was a big crowd around a man standing on the steps of a building with a radio at his feet, he shouted the news through a rolled up piece of card.
"The Envoy has appealed for calm, he has demanded the Conodan forces withdraw immediately."
Envoy? I looked at Amek, he shrugged and shook his head.
"The Envoy has threatened the full force of his retaliation if his demands are not met. The Conodan General Council is in session."
Session? Who the hell could frighten the Conodan government..?
The Doctor.