The Fox and the Pigeon hole Chapter 24

24. Luck

A cold, hard light seeps through the trees. Signalling the rising of the sun. In the smooth slopes of the small hills and the lines of thick trees there is a certain perfection which would not be seen in nature. As if someone had designed this park down to the last detail. About a mile across it is mostly empty, the twittering birds making the only sounds except for a faint humming, it emanates from the city which dominates the landscape on all sides. Despite appearances the park not empty, behind a small copse of trees a face looks out into the open field. Between the leaves her brown hair can be seen only as it contrasts with the perfect green of her surroundings. Katie looks out hopefully at the barren park but her heart drops somewhat when she turns. On the ground behind her is Jackson, his strained breathing can be heard above the cheerful birds. Far from the man who escaped from prison a few hours ago he barely moves. “Looks clear” Katie whispers, trying to sound optimistic. However clear the park may be their chances of escape were slim enough when running was an option. Carrying Jackson, in his condition, makes things infinitely more onerous. He groans, whether in agreement or not Katie can’t guess, so she simply smiles. The sun rising over the tops of the buildings where they are visible to her left provokes a sense of urgency. They are in a park alone, while government forces are almost certainly closing in on their position. “Katie” wheezes the lifeless body on the leaf covered ground.

“What is it?” She leans over him, soothingly.

“You-should go” She moans as he turns towards her, “you should run-lea-leave me” he closes his eyes, as if accepting his fate.

“Hey” She says, she attempts a light airy tone but only succeeds in sounding mildly hysterical “We’ll be fine. Don’t be stupid, of course I’m not leaving you.” She is suddenly stern “Don’t be so bloody dramatic we can get out of this. It’s not as bad as all that” Tears are threatening but she holds them back. “ You didn’t leave me and I’m not leaving you. Let’s just be rational about this, all we’ve got to do is get out of the city; i bet if we just-“  suddenly something hard hits her in the side of the head and she slumps forward. “Katie!” Jackson breathes, now awake and alert. “Are you ok? Katie?” He yells out and almost screams forcing himself into a sitting position. Despite the worryingly loud noise the object had made when it collided with her, Katie is already on her feet. “WHO THE HELL THREW THAT!” She yells, apparently abandoning all notions of remaining ‘incognito’. She darts forward into the trees behind them and looks around “Hello! Who’s there!” She yells “I Swear if you-“

“Katie!” Jackson hisses, “Shh” But her outburst warrants no reply. Whoever it was has clearly left. “Jackson” Katie hurries over as he lets out another moan of suppressed pain in his side.

“I’m ok. I’m fine” He picks up the thing, lying directly in from of him. “Wait, what’s this” He turns it over.

“I thought it was a rock” She rubs her head angrily, “felt like a rock”

“It’s not, look” Katie examines it. The ‘rock’ was in fact a small container wrapped in some coarse material, like tree bark. “What is it?”

“It’s just rubbish someone was throwing away Jack”

“No, it’s not, look its clean. Open it”

 After unscrewing the small thin bottle and smelling its contents her face changes dramatically “Jackson! Oh my God”

“What?!”

“its” She smells again “It is! It’s that stuff, that medicine, I’ve had it before. This is fate, this is just what you need. Jackson... we might actually get out if here alive now”

“I thought you said-“
“Well I was lying before” She is positively beaming now. Looking around for any sign of their mysterious saviour. “Hold on, you want me to take that?!” Lance looks at the bottle, seriously questioning whether Katie was more affected by its impact on her head than she realised. “Yes, don’t you see? Someone is obviously trying to help us.”

“I don’t know” Jackson says slowly, his pessimism annoys her.

“What? What’s the problem now? This is the best thing that could’ve happened just-“

“Exactly. It doesn’t seem a bit convenient, that the one thing we need just falls out of the sky? Seems-suspicious to me”

“What other explanation is there?” She is already kneeling down for him to drink it. “Obviously someone is trying to help us”

“But why? And why not show themselves then?” he leans away from her.

“Because-” She’s unsure, “Because they don’t want to be seen with two fugitives obviously” She holds his shoulder with a face of mock affection, “Listen Jackson, drink it. Or I’ll make you”

He looks reluctantly up at her, “fine” he concedes. Permitting her to tip the entire contents of the bottle down his throat. It’s unpleasant, burning like spirits or spices and it tastes overwhelmingly of cinnamon.

~  *  ~

After several hours and several strange sensations in his legs, Jackson is standing. His wound, though not fully healed looks less disastrous. The pain which had reduced him to a quivering wreck is now nothing more than a light tingling. Both with their spirits greatly improved, Jackson and Katie set out their plans for escape. “I’m telling you. At that time it’ll be packed, it’s our best bet. If nothing else it should be harder to find us, imagine trying to pick out our faces among so many people”
“You know it’s not that simple, they have computers to do that sort of thing Jackson” Katie is reluctant, but even she knows that to stay in the city would be suicide. “But you’re right. We’ve got no other choice” Getting to their current position just across the road from the ‘Third Acre’ central station was stressful enough. Especially for Katie. They tried to look as natural and inconspicuous as possible walking slowly down the winding paths of the Park to its opposite end. Despite their success in this, they both know that avoiding detection in a park is nothing compared to the chaotic station. “We can do it” Jackson has been hurriedly repeating, now more to himself than Katie. The real issue was how to remain invisible in their current state; Jacksons ripped trousers revealed his wound. It may have been mostly healed but it is still a shocking site for the clean and hedonistic population of Pitcairn. Katie’s hair has become matted and dirty but it was easy enough to make her presentable. The best they could do was to tuck in the ripped section of Jacksons trousers, hiding most of the redness and wash the blood off of the surrounding fabric with water from a nearby stream. “Ok” Katie smiles somewhat forcibly surveying Lance “Nobody will even notice” Lance makes a face that says plainly, ‘you’re fooling no one’ but keeps quiet. “We should go now” He looks cautiously at the steady stream of people walking into the station.

“I hope our luck holds” Murmurs Katie, breathing fast but looking determined.