Blood Memory: The Complete Season One (Books 1-5) (56 page)

Anne helped him to take his jacket off, exposing a deep gash on his shoulder.

“Ouch,” she said. She threaded the medium-length thread.

“It’s not so bad,” the soldier said
. He removed his mask. He was an attractive man with matching brown hair and eyes. His features consisted of bare blunt lines as if God had designed him using only a ruler. “I just need a patch up.”

“How did you manage to get injured already? The
fighting hasn’t even started yet.”

“I tripped. Thought I should get myself seen to in case some of that Lurcher blood gets into my system.”

“Are you always so clumsy?”

“How did you know I didn’t do it on purpose?”

“Why would you do that?”

He arched his eyebrow and gave her what he no doubt considered a smouldering look.
“To see the beautiful nurses, of course.”

“I doubt even a soldier is that stupid. Injuring himself to see a nurse.”

“You’d be surprised. It’s about time they got some young blood in here. I was beginning to think being a pensioner was a prerequisite for the job.”

Anne smiled. She cast an eye over the other nurses. Not one of them was under fifty. “They probably want you to keep your mind on the fighting.”

“They spoiled that with you, didn’t they.”

Anne blushed. “Are you always so forward?”

“In the New World, a man doesn’t have the luxury of time.” He turned his head to one side. “You’re the one that was with the guy who got taken this morning, right?”

Anne nodded. “He’ll come back.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“I know him.”

“Some of the bravest soldiers I ever met turned tail at the sight of a Lurcher. Sometimes their courage falters. It’s better not to expect too much.”

“He’ll come. I know he will.”

The soldier smiled and touched her shoulder. “Hey, I’m sure you’re right. If I had you come to back to, I’d move heaven and hell to get back too. I guess I was just hoping he wouldn’t so then you’d be available… God, that came out wrong.”

“Could it come out right?”
Anne tugged unnecessarily hard on the thread.

“Ow! Be careful. I’d prefer to go out in fewer pieces than I came in, if that’s all right with you.”

“Sorry.” She wasn’t sorry.

He was silent a moment. “
This must be your first compound defence. Don’t worry, you probably won’t have to do much more than sew a few cuts closed on clumsy soldiers. The Lurchers usually give up long before they breach the wall.”

Anne snipped the thread and tied a knot. “Done.”

He appraised it. “You do good work. You must have had a lot of practice at this.”

“Some.”

He hopped down off the seat and put his jacket back on. The sound of gunfire ripped through the night.

“Showtime.” He walked toward the exit, then stopped and turned. “Say, what’s your name?”

“What?”

“I said, what’s your name?”

“Why?”

“Is it a secret?”

“Anne. My name’s Anne.”

He shook her hand. “Gary.”

“Nice to meet you, Gary.”

“I always like to know who’s about to sew me back together again so I can complain about them later.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Catch you later, Anne.”

“I hope not!” Anne called after him. Despite herself, she found she was smiling.

She found herself outside a large unlovely square breezeblock of a building. Men went inside empty-handed and came out carrying weapons. It appeared to be so easy. There was no ID check, no salutes. Most of the soldiers didn’t even wear uniforms.

Jessie adopted the confident strut of the soldiers and looked straight ahead, making no eye contact with the guard that stood outside. Her heart beat a mile a minute, but her walk was steady and sure. She could feel the guard’s eyes on her, but he didn’t move to stop her.

Inside she found the largest cache of weapons she’d ever seen. Row upon row of pistols, UZIs, grenades, machine guns, and a plethora of others she had no name for. She walked down the aisles until she found what she was looking for.

She ran a hand over the long, graceful lines, the large sight loaded on the barrel, and the detachable stand for camping positions. It was larger than the one Jordan had taught her to shoot with, but there was no mistaking it. She picked it up and, to her surprise, found it lighter than she expected. She slung it over her shoulder and grabbed a large box of ammo. And a second, just in case.

She turned and, startled, dropped one of the boxes. It popped open and shells rolled all over the floor, bumping into a heavy regulation boot. The guard from outside stared down at her. She felt self-conscious. Then she remembered Jordan’s behaviour with Sergeant Marsh and the other soldiers. The stern expression, the short, sharp replies. The aggression. The attitude. She made herself look this man – no, not a man, but a boy – a
baby
boy square in the eye.

“Can I help you?” she said.

The man blinked. “I was just going to ask you the same thing.”

“I’m baking a cake. What does it look like I’m doing?”

“You’re trying to take a weapon from the armoury, is what it looks like.”

“Give that man ten points. It’s for
Sergeant Marsh, if you must know.”

“Marsh?” the boy said, a little uncertain. “Where’s he stationed?”

“On the south wall,” Jessie said without hesitation.

The soldier peered at her, suspicious. “I didn’t know they let girls into the army.”

“Then how did you get in?”

“Now see here-”

“I’m not a girl. I’m a woman.” She stood up straight, puffing out her chest, legs shoulder width apart. A strange expression came over the boy’s face then, as he looked her up and down. Jessie felt naked, but she did not cower. “I’m going now, unless you want to explain to Sergeant Marsh why he was kept waiting?”

“Uh…
no. Of course not. Go.”

Jessie marched for the door, barely able to keep the excitement off her face.

“Wait.”

Jessie paused, considering whether or not to run. She was close enough to make it to the door. But laden as she was, she wouldn’t get very far. She turned.

He handed her the second ammo box she’d dropped. “Take these. Looks like it might get a bit hairy out there. My name’s Paul, by the way.”

Jessie ignored his proffered hand. If she took it, he would notice she was shaking.

“Maybe when this is all over we could get a drink or something.”

She gave him a cold glare, and didn’t breathe until she was out of sight. She turned north and headed toward the building she had already pegged as her nest. She couldn’t stop
smiling to herself. Now she understood what Anne had meant.

Once the firing commenced, it wasn’t long before the wounded started pouring in. At first it was in drips and drabs, mostly cuts and grazes from thrown objects. The Lurchers hadn’t managed to get close enough to inflict any serious injuries yet.

Gary entered, blood flowing freely from a gash above his eye. “Miss me?”

“No. And apparently a Lurcher didn’t either.”

“Ho ho! I almost laughed then. But I’m a serious person.”

“Of course you are.” Anne cleaned the wound.

Gary nodded to a few occupied beds. “I see you have a few more patients to take care of. Must have been my recommendation.”

“You think it’s because you came here? Wow. Mr Ego.”

“Where a legend steps, others follow.”

“This is one Holy Land I’m sure they’d prefer not to tread.”

“A man chooses not his destiny.”

“Are you Yoda now?”

“If I make it back again, I think I deserve a kiss. They say the third time’s the challenge.”

“You’re going back?” Anne threaded the fibre and began to sew.

“We’re not going to beat them if every soldier with a graze takes to the warm-up bench now, are we?”

“It’s a little more than a graze, Gary…”

“But less than debilitating.”

“You should rest.”

“So should you.” He smiled. “I’m glad you’re here. Having someone pretty to take care of you makes it easier to remember why you’re here.”

“Well, try to keep your mind on the fighting. And don’t forget, you don’t need to get injured every time you remember why you’re fighting.” She tied off the thread.

“Why, Anne. I’m touched. I do believe you’re flirting with me.”

“Get out of here!”

“Kiss. Next time. Promise.”

Anne wrinkled her nose.

“It’s a date.” He headed outside.

At the clearing, he heard the gunshots. The muzzle flashes in the distance exploded like tiny stars. The Lurchers meandered toward the compound in a limping gait, stumbling over fallen comrades as the bullets smashed home. But the Lurchers did not stop, only meandered on. They crawled on top of one another, their groans dull and heavy and mournful.

By the intermittent muzzle flashes
Jordan did a rough headcount. There certainly weren’t ten thousand of them. There was barely even a fraction of that number, but still they ploughed onward, into the field of fire. The area was a mass of shapes and bare white bodies glowing in the spotlights.

Jordan ran in a crouched position parallel to the wall, keeping out of sight. He came to a stop beside a burnt-out car. Two large circles of light made elliptic by the angle and distance of wall parapets drifted lazily over the expanse stretched out before him, moving left to right, exposing the darkness and, if he didn’t step carefully, him too. The beams moved predictably. Jordan waited for the right moment, and then ran. He made it to the wall.

He skirted along it, feeling it with his hands.

“Please stil
l be here, please still be here,” he said to himself.

His fingers came to a thin crack. He followed it down where it disappeared behind a fern. Jordan dug the dirt away with his hands. He got down and looked through the narrow tunnel. A prick of light winked at him at the end. Jordan got down on all fours and began to crawl through.

Jessie took her position in the roof of a derelict house at the north end of the compound. She shifted the window open by two inches, giving her plenty of room to manoeuver, but without making it obvious which window she was shooting from. The gunfire on the opposite side of the compound were muffled with distance.

Through the scope she spied a boy ferrying weapons toward the south wall, and a small group of men carrying injured soldiers to the med tent.

She got up, leaned the gun against a wall and bent down to pick up the stand. A voice, faint and barely audible, drifted up from the south side. She couldn’t quite make it out, and took it to be children playing. Then she listened more closely.

She still couldn’t hear the words, but there was something about the voice. She replaced the stand and put the sniper rifle onto it, pivoting toward the sound. She looked, but couldn’t find the speaker.

She saw the weapons lying cast aside, haphazard, the boxes of unspent ammo lying in disarray like discarded Lego bricks. Her breath caught. A small body laid prone, neck at an eccentric angle, white bone jutting. She moved the scope side-to-side, scrubbing the compound.

A head darted amongst the unarmed, causing panic. Jessie heard a screech, and a chill ran up her spine. As the Lurcher clawed and bit at the unarmed men, women and children, Jessie lined up her first live target of the day, in fact
, her first live target of her life. She followed the Lurcher’s movement, saw where he was going to be, not where he was, and gently squeezed the trigger. For a split second she thought she’d missed.

The back of the Lurcher’s head exploded. It slumped to the ground. The men and women shouted what Jessie now realised the boy must have been
yelling earlier: “Breach! Breach!”

He edged and wriggled, arms by his side. The jagged rock pinched and pulled and cut at his bare skin. He felt the soft scabs that had just begun to heal from Tim’s interrogation tear off, the gashes bleeding anew. His breath echoed hollowly in the empty space. The prick of light at the end of the tunnel had enlarged and filled Jordan’s vision.

He came to a particularly narrow segment of tunnel. He kept squirming, but the light stopped growing, and try as he might, he could not move.
I’m stuck!

As he wriggled, he felt jagged rocks jab into him, his movement acting as a kind of saw, biting and tearing deeper. Something pulled at his arm. He looked down. His watch had gotten snagged on one of the rocks. He angled and twisted his arm, eventually
finding the clasp and releasing it. As he continued to squirm through the tunnel he felt the watch pull from his wrist, trail down his leg and thud to the hard ground behind him.