The Hand and the Hatchet

Chapter 21

With his nap over and done with, he decided to go downstairs. Ant was there, sat at the dining room table, having been relieved of guard duty during the hour that Bell had slept for. He was playing with a puzzle box he'd found somewhere.

"Any movement?" He asked.

"Nothing, I don't reckon we're close enough yet" He replied, eyes still locked on the wooden lump in his hands, which he rotated.

"Maybe they've all left, like Adam said?"

"I wouldn't get your hopes up, mate. While they're a powerful group, they're not gunna be wasting manpower holding some crummy outskirts like this, especially if there is something going' down in town"

"Damn"

Bell went through a few downstairs rooms, where everyone was sat with their packs, and asked if anyone had some loose food they didn't mind sharing, as he'd just vomited his own out, omitting that last detail. It took a few tries but eventually someone coughed up some stale crackers. He sat back with Ant, who'd solved the puzzle box. He'd found a panel that you had to click inwards and then rotate, whereafter it would drop out, revealing... nothing. He complained about it as Bell wolfed the crackers down. Rick came down, and sat across from Ant, and began telling him that he planned on moving sometime soon.

"Good idea, we ain't got much light left, so it's probably worth going now, if we're going today"

"What do you think?" Rick asked

"I'd move now, in my experience its best to move while you can still see"

"Okay, I'll let everyone know"

"Oh, Rick. It might be worth seeing if that guy with the bad leg wants to come"

Rick's eyes hardened "he does"

Ant shrugged, and began lacing his boots back up, which he'd removed. Bell went back upstairs and grabbed his stuff, returning down stairs when everyone was ready. They set out once more, the shadows growing longer as dusk neared. They walked deeper into the town, everyone tired now. As they walked through a high street of sorts, someone hissed "what's that noise?"

Everyone stopped moving, and silence ensued. Almost. Voices ahead of them, inside one of the shops. Ant pointed to the shop immediately to their right. He pushed the door open gently, and then held it as everyone hurried to file in. When they were inside, he let the door close very, very gently. He gestured to Bell, Rick, Adam, and they leaned in. He whispered.

"Pick some other guys, let some of them stay back as guards, and some of them come with us. We'll 'ave a look, if we can pass, we'll pass, if we can't we'll try an' take em out"

Rick nodded and began choosing. Ant moved towards the back of the shop, and went through a door marked 'staff only'. They followed him. There was no corridor to the other shops, so they continued on, until they found a window at waist level that they opened silently. They climbed out, into a square loading area, which all the shops seemed to have access to. They could hear the voices from there. They snuck across, keeping close to the wall, until they came to a fire door that had been wedged open by a box full of books. The voices came from inside. They crept in, one hand on each other's shoulder. It was difficult to step over the box without making noise, but they managed. Another door, white with a keypad. Ant pushed it a tiny bit, and it started to open. He stopped pushing and turned to Rick.

"You two go around, back the way we came. Go through the front door an' if there's only a few, distract em. Me and Bell will surprise them. If there's too many, forget about it, come back and we'll figure something else out" He whispered. They left, as silently as they'd come.