Beyond The Wave

Chapter Thirty - The Great Pursuit

Guard duty, I decided after about twenty minutes, was boring - cold, unpleasant and boring. To stand any sort of guard, we had to be up on top of one of the lorries. Somebody had put a ladder up the side and there were a couple of pallets fastened to the top so at least we had somewhere to stand but we were out in the rain and staring out into the utter blackness.

Sandra and I couldn't even chat. Because we couldn't see anything, we had to rely on our hearing but I didn't even know what we could hope to hear over the steady drumming of the rain on the plastic sheet behind us.

At last Tristram and Abby came to relieve us and we stumbled into the beds that they had just vacated in the camper van. At least they were still warm.

I was in a deep, exhausted sleep when I was woken by a scream and a muffled thud. I was out of bed and moving before I was fully awake, pausing only to stick my feet in my boots and grab my coat. I pulled it on as I moved.

I found my torch in my coat pocket and shone it around. Ashley was lying in a crumpled heap on the ground, just below the command post. One of my swords was lying next to him. I hurried over, and inspected him. There was blood pouring from a deep cut in his leg but otherwise he looked unhurt.

I hunted round desperately for something to stop the bleeding and found one of Tristram's hankies in my pocket. So, after raising his leg, I used that to apply direct pressure to the wound. I had to stop that blood flow. Ashley swore slightly but at least that proved he was conscious.

Then I was frozen by a scream for help from the front of the fort. I wanted to panic. Of course I did. But I knew I couldn't. Lives depended on me thinking.

Instead I looked around. Abby was standing, staring vaguely into space. "Come here," I barked at her. She hurriedly did as she was told, happy to have somebody doing the thinking for her, I suppose. I showed her how to keep the leg elevated and keep pressure on the wound. Only then did I grab my sword and hurry to the front gate.

There was another scream and I flashed my torch in that direction. I was just in time to see Den deliver a fierce slap to a girl's face... Mandy.

"Quiet, bitch," he told her with a vile sneer. "Or there's plenty more where that came from."

"You didn't tell me about this little piece," he shouted to me through the gates. He gave Mandy's bottom a cruel grope then chucked her carelessly into the back of his van. "Looks nice and fresh to me... juicy!"

Tristram arrived with the key but it was too late. By the time he had opened the gates, Den was back in his van and already moving. Though how he could see to drive with only his headlights in that never-ending, streaming rain, the utter black of the night and the poorly defined, muddy roads, I will never know.

"Come on. We need to follow them now!" Sandy yelled at Tristram.

"Silence!" Tristram said, in a quiet, shockingly cold voice. It was the closest I had ever heard him to being angry. For a long time he said nothing, doing his, 'in a crisis, think,' thing.

I recognised the signs that Sandra was close to hysteria - I'd been there often enough myself. I went round to hold her and the two of us just stood, hugging each other and staring out at the retreating lights of the van. They were heading back towards town - not surprising, really. It was the only way they could go.

After what seemed like an age, Tristram spoke. "There is no point in following them now. We won't be able to see their tracks in the dark. We have to wait for first light. Terrie, go and deal with Ashley. We don't want to lose two people tonight."

"Do you need Sandy?" I asked.

"No."

The two of us hurried over to where Ashley was lying. There were a couple of the girls standing round him but they weren't doing anything. They just looked stunned. At least Abby was keeping the pressure on the wound and keeping his leg elevated.