At least I’ve had good training, as have all of us Perimeter kids. Pa taught Skye and me from the ages of eight and ten. We had advanced driving lessons, comprehensive weapons training and rudimentary survival skills. Of course it had all been great fun, but I see now, that Pa was equipping us for every eventuality.
It all feels like it’s happening in slow motion. There’s no time to feel scared anymore. One minute Luc and I are discussing what we should do. The next minute we’re firing off rounds into the dark, silent countryside.
They come at us from the far distance, to the left, where the sun has recently set. From what I can see, most of them are on horseback, but there are a lot on foot, swarming down from the hills. I can’t see how Luc is doing so I just spray bullets, even though my targets are way out of range. But if the raiders keep on coming, it won’t be long until I hit something… or someone.
The riders are wearing what looks like old fashioned riot-police helmets and bullet proof vests over their clothes. They look like futuristic cowboys. It’s a surreal and menacing sight. They’ve got weapons, but I can’t feel bullets anywhere close.
After what must be less than thirty seconds or so, the raiders turn tail and disappear back up the hillside. Luc stops firing and so do I. I looked at the fallen log. It’s been decimated, reduced to a million splinters. Luc grins at me.
‘That was quick,’ I gasp, the adrenalin still racing around my body.
‘You okay?’ he whispers in the sudden silence.
Just then, something cold presses at the side of my head. Luc swings his weapon towards me, but he’s too late.
‘I’ll shoot.’ It’s a man’s voice, steady and confident. His breath smells rank, his body odour sickening. I don’t dare turn my head to look at him. His arm slithers around my shoulders and his gun presses harder into my temple.
Luc lowers his weapon as the man relieves me of my machine gun with his left hand. I’m rigid with fear, hardly able to breathe. He must’ve crawled up the other side of the AV while we were distracted by the raiders coming down the hill. Why on earth hadn’t we anticipated something like this? We should have activated the shockplates before carrying out our hasty plan. Luc must have the same thought as me, because I see his hand snaking down inside the AV towards the shock button.
But before Luc has a chance to do anything, another man appears over the top of the AV and cracks Luc on the side of the head with his gun. Luc crumples down into his seat like a rag doll and I see thick globs of blood on the roof-opening.
‘No,’ I moan. My vision blurs and I feel like I’m about to pass out.
‘Don’t worry,’ says the man next to me. ‘He’ll just have a bit of a headache when he wakes up and I feel so much better now he’s asleep.’ He’s well spoken and, when I glance at him, he smiles, smug and in control of the situation. He looks to be in his twenties, clean shaven and good looking. Pity about his personal hygiene.
He slings my Kalashnikov over his body and reaches past me into the AV to pull Luc up by his hair so he’s now slumped upright in the driver’s seat. But he hasn’t done this out of any concern for Luc; he’s trying to reach Luc’s machine gun which fell onto the floor when he was knocked out.
I weigh up my options and find them very limited. The revolver is still jammed against my head, my gun hangs from the man’s malodorous body and my lovely Luc is unconscious, with another raider trying to reach the M60 down in the foot well. Then things get suddenly worse.
‘Nice work, Solly.’ Another man’s face materialises over the top of the AV and my heart plummets even further. Then, from behind the rustling trees and bushes the hidden raiding party appears. There are about twenty to thirty men and women of varying ages and attire, all modestly armed and some carrying lanterns. They look almost civilised – grubby, but not too unkempt, not like the people I saw outside the Charminster Compound. I hear distant shouting, look up and see the mounted raiders waving and cheering from the hillsides.
We’re done for. We hadn’t scared them off before, as I’d mistakenly thought. They were merely waiting for Solly to do his worst. I’m paralysed with fear – alone and captured by hostile strangers capable of who knows what.
Chapter Fifteen
Now the raiders are crawling over the AV like dirty ants. They climb up on to the roof to congratulate their hero, Solly. They’re surprisingly well spoken and intelligent sounding. From their aggressive behaviour, I assumed they were all stupid and half-wild.
Solly removes the metal gun barrel from the side of my head and grabs me by the waist. I gasp as he lifts me out of the vehicle, about to pass me down into the waiting arms of his friend. There’s no time to think, I have to act quickly and so, with all the strength I can muster, I kick out as hard as I possibly can with my heel. Unfortunately I’m only wearing my flip flops, but I manage to hit the sweet spot I’m aiming for and he drops me back into the passenger seat. I could almost smile to see him doubling up in agony, half sliding off the roof.
‘You little bitch,’ he wheezes.
Meanwhile, his companion is leaning down into the drivers’ side, grappling past Luc’s body to reach for the elusive gun. I’ve got another surprise in store for them and, from my safe position inside the AV, I quickly flick the switch that activates the shock plates. There’s a split-second of teasing silence, followed by a highly-charged hum – a ramping up of power. Solly and his companion look down at me in horror as it dawns on them what the low, menacing sound means. I’m too wired to savour my victory.
The raiders who’ve crawled onto the vehicle are quite literally about to receive the shock of their lives. Their hair begins to lift in slow-motion and then, suddenly and violently their bodies are thrown from the AV at the same time, like startled flies.
The darkness is almost absolute outside, apart from the headlights and weak lanterns. Static from the electric plates showers sparks of light which accompany the raiders on their unexpected flights. Arms and legs splayed, hair standing on end and mouths open in silent screams and yells. They fly through the air at frightening speed, upwards and outwards; a cascade of human bodies.
Has the electric current killed them? Or are they just badly stunned? I realise I’m shaking and I try to get my brain to unfreeze. I still have to get us out of here. The metal plates buzz and crackle and I thank God for old technology.
Those who were thrown are now strewn on the ground about twenty feet from the vehicle, either in the middle of the road or on the grass verges. Some collided with those standing around the vehicle and are now lying unconscious on top of them. Others are just standing slack-jawed in amazement.
But shock soon turns to anger and one idiot boy charges towards me and tries to open the passenger door. He immediately finds himself lying incapacitated with his friends, face down in a ditch.
A woman picks up my Kalashnikov from Solly’s prone body and fiddles around with it for a while, before firing it at close range on the AV. I give a short scream as bullets bounce off the windows. The vehicle shudders horribly under the impact. Then she has a brainwave and lowers her aim to the tyres. I’m seriously freaking out now. I need to stop shaking and squealing and do something. I’m lucky – the woman’s ammunition runs out before she’s able to hamper my chances of a good getaway. She throws the gun down in disgust, the smirk, wiped from her face. There’s nothing any of them can do and they’re furious.
All my thoughts now are of getting out of here, but Luc’s still slumped unconscious in the driver’s seat.