The Fox and the Pigeon hole P2 Chapter 15

15. Electricity

A high wall of mismatched white rocks towers high above a small collection of buildings, clustered around a wild glade they are made of the same stone and smoke rises from the chimneys. Lance and Dawn sit in a clearing near this settlement cross-legged and coming to terms with their dilemma. They stare into the woods, talking occasionally. “Lance?” Says Dawn after a long silence,
“Yes” He says calmly, not looking at her
“I’m sorry; this is all my fault... If I had just been more careful in Collen then we could have escaped. But now I don’t know what to do...” Her voice cracks slightly, “I mean, we’ve lost our whole families all of our friends. Who are we supposed to ask?” Silently sobbing now she rests her head Lance’s legs, her hair is dirty and unkempt, full of twigs and leaves. Absent-mindedly brushing through her long hair Lance sighs “It’s not your fault Dawn”

“Thank you,” She says quietly, still sobbing, “ this is so unfair, sometimes I think how different our lives would be if we were born somewhere else , another country maybe, full of lakes and palm trees where the water is clear and blue. Somewhere with no government just us, all alone in a big house, with a pool” She laughs slightly and stops crying.
“Yeah,” Lance says, dreamily, “That would be nice, we could have a dog and grow our own vegetables in the garden” Dawn sits up and looks at him, he looks back into her large eyes. Before either of them know what is happening they start to lean closer, Lance’s heart beating so hard that he thinks it might explode. Then their lips touch, fireworks go off in Lance’s head and his heart stops dead. Feelings rushing to the surface that he didn’t even know existed, this feels right he thinks. Something seems to have clicked in his mind, of course this is right, he has always known it.

*

A small stone table is filled with maps and letters, a few stools littered around it are filled with a mixture of people, Kuruk’s family with their torn clothes and long hair which is held back by a colourful bandana or left hanging across their wild faces. Although they have been mostly alone since arriving Kuruk’s family have been kind and caring, bringing them food and telling them stories of their home which is further north than Pitcairn in the jungle valley pass that borders the governments land. The five officers, surprisingly well kept for the situation but looking around nervously and obviously not used to being outnumbered. Lance, Dawn and Suheila stand together in a corner of the small, overcrowded room. Sergeant Hourne sits at the head of the table, a giant of a man he has long shaggy brown hair that flows over his shoulder down to his waist, wearing an assortment of thick fur and leather he looks like he was a born leader and yet a kind and trusting nature seems to emanate from him.

A subdued babble of talk fills the room until Sergeant Hourne raises his large hand and calls for quiet. “Now” He says gruffly, “We took a risk in rescuing Raff and Suheila and may have gotten more ‘an we bargained for” He glances briefly at the five officers. “Well never mind now, more the merrier and all that. We need to make our move, the government has seized four more villages in the last two days alone and their fully aware of us, don’t fool yourselves we’re not safe anywhere. Today we set off for Bluewater valley where we’ll re-group with the rest of the Insurgo army-“Lance tries to swallow his confusion but Dawn is already leaning down and asking Charlie what ‘Insurgo’ means, “-then we will have to plan our assault, we have people poised on the inside at Pitcairn’s defence centre to get us inside but it’s up to us from there. We have to initiate a lockdown and seize the city with minimal casualties¬¬-“
The rest of the morning passes slowly for Lance, the conversation turns to plans for the assault and then preparations for the move to Bluewater valley. He and Dawn soon leave to be alone but Suheila follows, awkwardly seeing their linked hands she stops at the doorway and walks off into one of the small houses. Despite all of her heroic efforts Suheila has been strangely distant and resigned since their arrival at the camp, Lance has found a strange resentment towards her from the lack of answers she was able to provide when questioned at the government building but she was especially affected when Kuruk told them about Rafiel. He had walked off into the woods and not been found before the impending earthquake had forced them to leave. ‘I cannot see ‘im surviving the earthquake’ Kuruk had said bluntly during the haphazard helicopter journey.

*

Huddled around a small fire in one of the tiny huts Lance and dawn sit together quietly, a deep red sunset is visible through a small window and it sends rays of light streaming onto the stone floor, illuminating swirling patterns of dust. The relaxing atmosphere is something that has eluded Lance since the death of his family. “I could just lie here forever” Sighs Dawn, looking into the slowly flickering fire. All of a sudden they hear a bloodcurdling scream coming from one of the adjoining houses, darting out of the door they see one of Kuruk’s sisters running from the house still screaming and crying hysterically. As Lance and Dawn crash into the small room they stop dead, the scene in front of them is horrifying. Dawn covers her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide. Suheila is lying on the floor, blood gushing out of a wound in her side and Kurt is standing over her, a knife in his hand. Blood drips down the long knife onto his gloves and his eyes are narrowed with a strange kind of anger.

“Oh my god” Breathes Lance remembering his dream, the scene is almost identical the dirt floor the bloodstained leaves even Suheila’s face, she looks so peaceful in death that she could be sleeping. “No” Says someone behind them, “No” He says louder, Rafiel walks into the centre of the room and kneels down beside Suheila. Swallowing his surprise at seeing Rafiel Lance pulls Dawn out of the door and hugs her tightly while she sobs violently. “NO” Comes another howl from the house “You! Rafiel screams, and Lance just rushes back inside to see Rafiel launch himself on Kurt who still hasn’t moved. Tackling him to the ground and punching him repeatedly Kurt is taken by surprise and his face is soon covered in blood. “Stop!” Comes a thundering voice at the door, Sergeant Hourne strides over and pulls Rafiel away and pushes him out the door “Stop” He says again but Rafiel walks off into another house without looking back.