The Fox and the Pigeon hole Chapter 9

9. Unorthodox alliance
Rafiel sits on a bare tree stump, still in sight of the menacing grey building and thinks through his dilemma, sweat pouring down his face. Lance is trapped inside, probably being tortured and he is locked out with no means of getting in. He runs his hands through his hair with frustration and stands quickly, thinking hard as he paces up and down on the dusty ground.“Argh!” He shouts suddenly, losing all self restraint he hammers his fist against a nearby oak tree in his anger.

A noise catches his attention, a soft whirring, and then more distinctly it gets slowly louder and turns to a harsh fluttering and then before Rafiel thinks to do anything the roar of a helicopter is almost directly above him. He looks up and sees it approaching just above the trees, a small helicopter, dented and grazed it looks like an injured fly as it jerks and veers off course by the ever increasing wind. Green cloth has been used as a door on one side and a feeble attempt a camouflage has been painted all over it making it look informal and somehow homemade, he is just about to run when he looks again at the rash, hardly functioning machine, this is not a ship bearing officers but, what then.

He stares up at it knowing he should be seeking shelter in the trees but overwhelmed by his curiosity. The helicopter slows and loses altitude above Rafiel; it slowly comes towards the ground causing dust and dirt to fly in all directions, pushing Rafiel back from the force of the wind.

A man draws back the green cloth and jumps out as the aircraft touches down, he runs out to the front and waves his hands continuously at the driver, the blades slow and the engine dies but Rafiel still lingers undecided on the edge of the forest. More men appear out of the helicopter, they are dressed in odd assortments of clothing drapes and cloths have been manipulated into shirts and ripped shorts.

Thinking again about Lance, Rafiel ventures boldly out into the clearing, trying to look imposing but suddenly conscious of his ripped and dirty clothes and his unwashed face and dusty hair, “OI!” Says one of the men dressed in what seems to be the only proper piece of clothing in the entire group. He wears a brown shirt and some dirty knee length, musty trousers, his belt holds many knifes, compasses and tools that Rafiel has never seen or needed use of in his life. “Who are you?” he says approaching Rafiel with accusing eyes, his voice is harsh but soft and definitely foreign, “Umm, my name is … Rafiel” Rafiel hesitates not knowing if they mean to harm him or not.

“Rafiel” repeats the man slowly separating the letters slowly, “Or Raff” Says Rafiel quickly seeing the difficulty with which his name is said. He looks into the man’s eyes which are confused and unfocused. “Raff” He repeats again “Raff… Rafiel Hay…Haymat?” The man looks confused but also excited. The name also confuses Rafiel but then he sees what they are trying to say, “Rafiel Haymath” He says slowly “Yes, how do you know my-“But the man suddenly shouts to the men behind him “Ah! Rafiel Haymath,” he shouts turning back to face Rafiel, “You from …Collen!”
“Yes.” Says Rafiel, confused and slightly afraid that these people have his full name, “Who are you?” he walks closer to the man who, without warning, pulls him into a bone-breaking hug which almost lifts him off of his feet.

Suddenly aggressive, Rafiel pushes the man away “Who are you!” He shouts in a booming, demanding voice. The man looks back at Rafiel with a strange look, a look of confusion and curiosity “You” He says, pointing at Rafiel, “Rafiel Haymath”. He raises his eyebrows, obviously looking for an answer.
“Yes” Says Rafiel in an irritated tone, he sighs and says “Who…Are…you?” In a slow clear voice, as if he is talking to a deaf person. The man smiles “I am Kuruk, this is my family”

Rafiel raises his eyebrows, he shakes his head opening and closing his mouth but not saying anything. “Who, What…” He sighs “Why are you here?”.
“We have been sent by sergeant Hourne,” He smiles again, “To save Rafiel Haymath, that is you “ He points at Rafiel and then turns his head to the people behind him, who are briskly unloading the seemingly homemade helicopter.

He whistles sharply, as if calling a dog, and they all turn to him, put down their crates; barrels and boxes to come over in a large group. When the strangely silent group has assembled, Kuruk starts to talk, in a loud carrying voice. He talks to the group in a strange language, it almost sounds African, or native American. Kuruk talks for a while, still facing Rafiel and shaking the dust out of his brown; unkempt hair and the group listen intently, hanging onto his every word. Suddenly he stops talking and the whole group bursts into talk, shouts and screams as well as many more smiles at Rafiel.

“Wait!” He shouts, coughing because of the newly erupted cloud of dust, “Kuruk!” Kuruk turns and smiles at Rafiel, “What is it my friend!?”
“There are people inside!” He yells, struggling to be heard over the raucous laughter and shouting,
“What?” Shouts Kuruk, “Hang on” He turns to the group and whistles sharply again, the whistle is not loud but every single person seems to hear it and they all stop talking abruptly. “There, now what is it Sir Haymath?”
“Umm” Says Rafiel, stumbling slightly from the surprise of being addressed as ‘sir’ “My friends are inside the building, there are officers in there to.” Kuruk looks more intently at Rafiel, his face is serious and he is no longer smiling “I was trying to get to them but, I don’t know what happened, the doors and windows sealed shut and there were sirens and I, couldn’t get in” He sighs, looking down resignedly. Then, suddenly remembering “And last night there were more sirens and the windows opened, but there all locked and too small to fit through”

“Yes” Says Kuruk thinking hard, “The building must have been locked down, did anything happen, today, this morning perhaps?”
“Yes!” Says Rafiel loudly suddenly recalling, “There was an earthquake” He says in an astonished tone, the earthquake had completely slipped his mind since he had been unable to break into the building. A boy comes out of the group, followed by everyone’s eyes he comes over to Kuruk and speaks in his ear, Rafiel can hear but they speak in the same strange language as before.

Kuruk looks back at Rafiel as the boy returns to the group of onlookers “ The building may have gone into lockdown, because of geographical instability, but one small earthquake should not be enough to make this happen” He looks gravely at Rafiel.
“So” Says Rafiel, still confused “there’s going to be another, bigger earthquake?”. Kuruk nods, “we, bu…” Rafiel speaks quicker looking at the ground to hide his fear “When?”
“We do not know” Says Kuruk, “It could be at any time, but the building went into lockdown a day ago which could mean…” He trails off looking at Rafiel, wincing.
Rafiel’s eyes widen “Now?” He says in a small voice. Breathing hard Rafiel turns away from the group, never having been one to show weakness he starts into the forest, hardly thinking at all. “Sir Haymath, where are you going?!” Kuruk shouts after him, but Rafiel just waves his hand impatiently behind his back.

*

The room is silent, Suheila looks defiantly back at Lance, “I cannot answer your questions Lance” She says in a timid, shaky voice, “You have to know that I only want you to be safe, I have no idea what is going on with the government,” Lance snorts, shaking his head, “Its true!” Says Suheila, louder now.
“I don’t even know you!” Says Lance stepping towards her, his temper rising, “Who are you, where do you even come from?!” Lance starts to pace the small room, breathing hard,
“My name is Suheila” She says slowly and calmly “I’m from Collen; I worked with Rafiel at the resistance”

Lance stops pacing, he feels hot and flustered, not sure why he is so mad at a stranger. “Why are you here?” he says looking at Suheila and speaking in a much calmer voice,
“I have come to come for you and Rafiel” She says, confused, “That why you’re here isn’t it?”
“What?” Says Lance “we didn’t come here, Rafiel isn’t here he was captured like I said” He looks curiously into the girls eyes although he is starting to get tired of the constant uncertainty. Suheila looks down, obviously thoroughly confused, “But then how did you get here?”
“I was captured in the forest” Lance’s head is hurting with the effort of keeping up “We would never have come here even if we didn't know that this place was here” He gestures at the ceiling and looks accusingly back at Suheila.

“Ok,” She breathes, “I came here to pick up Rafiel, and you if he found you. I didn't know this place was here either.” She sits down on the bed solemnly “And now were trapped, and we will never get back. We’ll all be killed by this stupid earthquake” She buries her head in her hands as Lance sits down beside her, when she looks up her eyes are red and glistening, “Rafiel was supposed to bring you here and then-“ a single sob escapes her, “ I was supposed to find you and send for the helicopter but-“
“Wait, did you send for a helicopter?” Says Lance quickly. Suheila gasps and sits up very straight, before dashing out of the room