Trail of Tears by Derek Gunn Read Free Book Online Page A

their
defences. She strained her ears but couldn’t hear anything except
the sheets of rain pounding the ground. Was it already too late?
Was everyone already dead? She opened her eyes but saw nothing
but blackness. Was she blind? She could feel her eyelids
move and something rough rubbed against her. She tried to lift her
head. It felt as though she were trying to lift a bag of potatoes
with just her neck. She was so weak. She was about to give up when
her whole body shifted to the left and she rolled over onto her
back. For a brief moment she saw the flames pulsing in the
darkness, there was a distant chatter of gunfire, and then the pain
took over and filled her whole world.
    The agony lasted for three minutes. Her side
felt as though someone had ripped her in two. She screamed,
heedless of who might be near, the rain filling her mouth, and
making her gag and cough. She found it impossible to think. All she
knew was the pain. Her eyes fluttered and, with a sigh of relief,
she fell back into the darkness.
     
    * * *
     
    April felt Seager tense and he motioned for
her to drop among the bodies again. The bodies felt cold as she lay
down. It was as if they were ghosts sucking her very essence and
replacing it with a coldness that gripped her bones. She shivered
but forced herself to stay among the dead. She couldn’t bear to be
completely cut off from what was happening so she angled her head
so that she could see the junction ahead through the bloody limbs
of a woman and her child. From her position she saw a shadow
suddenly precede the people coming down the corridor. The shadow
was joined by another and they stretched further along as if a mad
God had suddenly grabbed the person making the shadow and stretched
them like moulding clay. She was about to laugh at the image when
the first boot appeared.
    The man swept fluidly into the small
corridor where she lay and she forced her eyes to retain a glazed
look. The man wore dark coveralls and weapons dripped from every
pocket and seam. His eyes were hard as he surveyed the scene,
checking for movement.
    “Fucking bastards.” She read the words on
his lips and she could feel the emotion in the words from his
gritted teeth and the softening of his eyes when he saw the
children’s bodies. He began to turn away when his face suddenly
sparked a memory. She felt her heart begin to race. He wasn’t a
thrall. She remembered seeing him around the complex. She struggled
to rise but the cold had made her hands numb. The man was already
turning away. She tried to draw his attention and fell forward as
she finally managed to shift her hand.
    The man whirled to the motion of her fall
and she looked in terror at the dark hole of the barrel pointed
directly at her. A thought occurred to her that she wouldn’t even
hear the blast of the shot that killed her. And then, the man
surged towards her and was throwing bodies to the side. She felt
his strong arms lift her easily from the sea of limbs. She felt his
hands brush something sticky from her face. He turned his head to
the junction of the corridor and she felt his cry to the others.
Suddenly there were more figures around her, asking her questions
that she couldn’t hear or hope to respond to. She felt the man
tense a moment later as the bodies surged again and she saw Seager
pull himself from the tangle. He looked like a demented demon
rising from hell but she felt a surge of warmth as he stood
defiantly beside the soldier. He was at least a head smaller than
the man who held her, but he stood his ground until she felt the
man shrug and she was passed from his arms into Seager’s. She felt
him buckle slightly as the weight shifted to him but he gripped her
tightly to his chest and she could feel his warmth seep into her.
She felt his chest move as he talked to the men but she let the
words flow over her. She was safe for now.
     
    * * *
     
    Phil McAteer tried to keep track of the
figures as they moved through the rubble. It