Falling

Chapter 10 : One good turn

The human body is amazing. Even during the most stressful of situations it will find a way to rest. They slept like babies. The racket produce by the helicopter did nothing to disturb their slumber, and it was only when Dave was shaken roughly did he stir.

"Alright alright keep your hair on!" he exclaimed indignantly. A tall black camouflaged soldier was standing over him, a massive smile revealing a perfect set of pearly white teeth, this was whom had been shaking Dave.

"You must wake now!" his sing song accent sounded strange.

"Where the hell are we?" Dave questioned. He looked around, trying to understand, "Where the hell are you from?".

"I am from Nigeria, and you are in London."

"This week is getting stranger and stranger! Jim, you awake mate?" upon receiving no answer, he looked around, "Jim? Where's Jim?"

"Your friend is with the Major, come now, I show you."

The tall soldier, he must have been 6ft 5" at least, walked down the helicopter ramp. Dave climbed to his feet, dusted himself off and followed.

They had landed in a city car park, or what was left of one. The white painted lines still visible on the ground. Three other helicopters shared the area, only these were not transports, vicious looking machine guns and missiles hung from short stubby wings. He followed his guide through the car park, walking past piles of dark green boxes. Some were stacked higher than he could reach, others were spread out in low towers. Hundreds of crates stood on pallets, organised into separate sections, their brown wooden sides had writing stencilled all over them, but in a language he didn't understand. Hundreds of soldier surrounded them. Some sitting in circles, others asleep on top of the boxes. Still more were standing quietly, in two's and three's, just watching the activity. Several men were slowly loading up a Land Rover with crates, they didn't seem to be in a hurry.

The strangest thing though, was that everyone he could see was black. Dave had the only white face in sight. He could also hear a melodic language being spoken.

He had to speed up to catch his guide, the man had an incredible stride, and Dave had just woke up, this was not his idea of fun. They walked along the side of a grey concrete building, and turned the corner. More crates and boxes were piled against the walls. He looked up and saw soldiers all along the low roof, heavy weapons pointing outwards. He followed their line of sight, looking towards a long tall metal fence. Solid panels which had been fastened together could be seen blocking off a road. Tall scaffolding had been erected inside the wall, allowing more soldiers to stand along the top edge. Everyone was looking towards the outside.

The area between the metal wall and the building, was filled with large dark green tents. This was where Dave's guide was heading, and he had just disappeared inside one of them.

Dave followed him in, and it seemed like an argument was in full force.

The tent was full of soldiers. They were all standing around a large central table, maps were spread out across it, but he didn't find it difficult to find Jim. He was doing most of the shouting.

"You cannot keep me here!" Jim screamed into the face of a shorter black soldier.

"Our orders are to hold this line sir, I cannot let civilians go wandering around London. I have told you the safe area's are having to be swept again!, you cannot leave!" He shouted this back into Jim's face all in one breath. He had the same accent as the guide.

"Did I miss something?" Dave asked. All eyes turned towards him, "Can someone explain to me what the fuck is going on?"

Jim left the table and stalked towards him, "Come on" he said simply, and left the tent. Dave now jogged to catch up to Jim, they continued walking for a few seconds, heading towards another tent, this time it had a large red cross on its sides.