TWENTY-NINE
Ed jerked awake and found that he was being almost crushed by the massive weight of Buster’s torso.
“Get off! I can’t breathe! Off!”
Buster rolled to the side. “I sorry boss” he whispered, “had to stop yous from kickin’ out, you was thrashin’ somethin’ awful at the end there. It was another o your dreams wasn’t it?”
“Christ! I thought I was having a heart attack!”
Ed was back behind the wire fence with his three companions, two of them looking wide-eyed at him in disbelief. As he gasped for air he peered through the darkness at George, then John and lastly at Buster. Each breathe smelt like pure heaven to him. He finally started to calm down and found the strength to look. He remembered the smoker and peaked over the tuft of grass they were hiding behind. There was no trace of the man. He looked up at the old wooden post nearest to him. There, near the top was a clear but faded notch where it looked like a gunshot had grazed and splintered the wood many years before. He shook his head in quite wonder. Finally, he addressed the small group.
“Yes, it was.” He looked at John and George. “I can’t explain it right now, you’re just gonna have to trust me on this. I think there’s going to be more than one of them; in fact, I’m pretty sure we could be up against at least eight men. Now that changes things quite a bit so I wouldn’t feel any less about you if you wanted to sit things out and stay here, but I want to see what’s in that barn, and it would help to know who is in that house.”
He left the sentence open, staying quiet, waiting for them to think about what he had said. He knew Buster was still in because of Grace. It didn’t take too long for the guys to look at each other, nod, turn back to Ed and almost in unison say “We’re in!”
“Good job!” he replied, “Okay, same plan, but be careful, see if you can find out who and how many are in the house. Back here in ten minutes. Let’s go!”
He stood and spread the rusty old barbed-wire so the others could go through. He looked to the post beside him again and stared at the large nick out of the wood, faded but still visible even in the pale vaporous light of the moon. He shivered briefly but he kept quiet.
Even with the other two helping stretch the fence it was a squeeze for Buster to get his sizeable torso through the barbed-wire but he made it, just catching the back of his shirt. Ed came through last as John held the wire for him, he nodded his thanks then the two pairs ran in opposite directions, Buster and Ed went right towards the barn, John and George went to the left of the building, unknowingly retracing the steps Ed had taken in his dream. As Buster and Ed worked their way to the big barn they could see a bunch of cars parked outside the house, confirming Ed’s fears.
Josh was nearly through the rope that bound his wrists when he heard a scraping sound. He stopped dead, held his breath… and listened. He strained his ears. There it was again, very faint, someone on the outside of the building, just behind where he sat but on the other side of the wooden siding. Whoever it was moved away from Josh, closer to where he imagined the door would be. He rubbed furiously at the hoe’s blade, his skin raw from the friction. He froze once more, a creek from the other end of the barn, the door opening? The masking tape had given easily and at last the rope gave way, he snatched the hoe so it didn’t bang down. He tried to get to his feet but his legs felt wobbly and weak. He wouldn’t panic, BA wouldn’t panic, BA would go right out there and bust some fools heads, but Josh didn’t feel quite that brave. On all fours now he tried again to stand and this time succeeded, rubbing his wrists and hands to get the circulation going in them. The boy got on tippee-toes but the wood sides were just a little too high for him to see anything. He forced his bare feet to move him forward to the edge of the stall; loose hay got stuck between his toes. He ignored it. His eyes were very used to the dark but it was still nearly pitch black so he used his hands to guide his way along the side. He reached the last part of the stall and peaked around the end to where he heard the noise come from. He saw what looked to him like a large sliding single barn door with a small access door built into it. The small door was open a little, the moonlight called him to go that way, but he knew that he wasn’t alone in the barn, someone had just come through that same door. He ducked down and scampered in the opposite direction, to the back of the barn, past three more stalls. Back here it was totally dark again, he slowed, hands out in front of him, feeling his way forward. Panic was taking over, making him short of breath, he couldn’t hear anything now except blood rushing around his head and in his ears, like the engine of a jet plane. A jet plane! Daddy’s plane. Daddy! His toes hit a step, he stumbled, tripped up a second step before his legs gave way, his shins grazing on the step, his shoulder jarring into a table, it was big and heavy but it shook. A noise like a can toppling over almost covered the “Ouch!” that came through Josh’s lips, almost, but not quite. Complete panic took over now, not thinking, he turned and ran as fast as his legs would carry him, towards the door, towards the moonlight and escape. He fixed his eyes on the strip of light, he pumped his arms, his legs, but the barn was so long, it was taking forever, his legs felt like lead. The light, just get to the light, the door, outside, keep going. Darkness, the light had disappeared completely, gone, in the blink of an eye. He couldn’t comprehend what had happened to the light until it was too late, he ran straight into the chest of a man, a big man.
Strong arms wrapped themselves around the boy like a vice. He felt himself lifted from the floor as if he weighed nothing at all; he kicked his legs as if he was still running. The arms got tighter, with the last of his breath Josh parted his lips ready to scream for his pop. “Daaa…” another hand clamped tightly over the boy’s mouth, cutting short the scream. A third hand, an alien with lots of hands, can’t breathe… can’t… breathe!