Project - 16 (26 page)

“
Another couple of hours.”

“
Shit.”

I'd gone to the trouble of making some torches from the fire
wood - sticks with curls of bark cut into them that could be thrown
over the wall to dissuade visitors. I stacked a few of them up near
Riley as she settled in to watch the sun come up.

“
Do you think they know we're here?” she asked.

“
They're close enough to pick up the scent,” I
said.

“
If I see one I'm going to blast it.”

Riley turned slightly as she leaned her rifle on the
barricade, breathing out slowly in small clouds of morning
mist.

“
There,” she said without saying where 'there' was.

“
How many?”

“
Two or three - hard to tell.”

The rifle cracked and jerked in her hands but she was steady
enough to be right back into aiming position, firing again - two
more, one almost straight after the other. My ears were ringing
with the racket but Riley look unruffled. This was her world and I
could only ever be a spectator to it.

“
Two dead,” she whispered to herself. “One wounded. There's
more of them though.”

She carried on staring down the scope and I went over to my
pack to get some more ammunition. The rifle fired again.

“
There's another.”

“
Here,” I said, passing it to her. Without taking her eyes off
the scene she slipped the rounds into her pocket and carried on her
vigil.

I went to put the morning's water on the boil just for
something to do. I was aware that I was shaking a little - but not
from fear but from a thrilling excitement that made little or no
sense to me. Perhaps it was a week or so of relative inaction that
made me feel like this.

“
They're coming,” she said matter-of-factly.

“
More?” I asked.

“
Fucking loads. You were right.”

“
I hate it when that happens.”

We began lighting the torches as the first of them arrived,
slamming into the wooden barricade and trying to scramble up. Riley
managed to kill three more at almost point-blank range before
hobbling away from the clawing, scratching animals as they
desperately tried to scale the wall.

I launched the torches over the top, sending sparks flying
amongst their number but they were undeterred until one of them
found its fur suddenly ablaze. It ran away, howling into the
darkness.

Another managed to reach the top of the barricade and my
knife found its throat before it could do anything about it. I was
sweating now, my mind bent on surviving the morning and I could see
the same thing on Riley despite her pale complexion and obvious
amounts of pain. I was able to stab another and soon the bodies
were piling up at the bottom of the barricade.

“
How many?” she shouted over the terrifying cacophony of howls
and snarls.

“
I can't tell,” I said. “Plenty though.”

“
Too many then,” she replied, reloading the rifle.

Some of them dragged the bodies of the other dogs away,
tearing great strips of skin from the bony frames and devouring it.
Others began to lose heart, slowly circling us, staring at us with
those burning jade coloured eyes that glittered in the early light
of dawn.

A few more burning brands went over and they finally stopped,
pulling back to a safe distance beyond our throwing arm.

“
Well?” asked Riley, sliding back down to the floor in
pain.

“
I think we've got them where we want them,” I said, laughing.
“But whether they go away or not is another matter.”

“
Let's just hope so.”

The dogs had all but gone when the sun rose into its cloudy,
dull home above our heads. One or two still picked at the corpses
of those we'd managed to kill but it looked like they'd given up
for now, convinced we weren't going to be the main course. The snow
outside our shelter was stained in grim patches of crimson and
goblets of flesh were littered around the field nearby.

“
They're going,” I said, watching them over the top of the
barricade. “For now.”

“
What should we do?”

“
Nothing. We need to try and make our firewood last until
tomorrow. We can't risk going out there today in case they're still
lingering. Hopefully they'll follow the deer tracks north, away
from us.”

“
We'll see,” she said, wincing at her thigh.

“
Let me take a look.”

“
It's fine,” she snapped. “I'm just a bit stiff.”

“
You sure?”

“
Yeah I'm fucking sure. Fucking dogs scared the shit out of
me.”

“
Me too,” I muttered.

“
I wish this leg would hurry up and heal. I can't stand not
being able to get on the offensive. I could have gotten on the roof
and picked them off one by one.”

“
I'm not sure we have enough rounds for that,” I
said.

Riley laughed and began making what was now our morning
routine coffee, splitting one portion of grind and an MRE between
us. She worked as if the last two hours hadn't happened, even
whistling a tune as she waited for the boil where as I was still
edgy, wishing we could move on somehow and get away from
them.

“
You must be pretty used to this kind of thing,” I said,
sitting down reluctantly.

“
Yeah, it isn't the first time breakfast got interrupted by an
enemy and it probably won't be the fucking last time either. Makes
you hungry though.”

“
I think I lost my appetite when they started eating each
other,” I said.

“
At least they're eating something other than us today. Still,
they came pretty close to leaping that wall.”

“
Yeah, I saw that. When the coast is clear I'll cut some more
logs and raise it up a bit, maybe leave a fire step in there for
you.”

“
Gee, thanks - I think,” she smirked.

We ate silently and I realised we were both listening
intently for any further howls, any clues that they might be coming
back. It was a good way to avoid asking the obvious question. In
the end I couldn't really leave things as they were.

“
Riley, about last night...” I said.

“
Let's not got there,” she replied without looking at me. “I'm
sorry for the emotional vomiting session. I didn't mean to lose it
like that.”

“
I didn't mind - honestly,” I said.

“
Well I did. I shouldn't have let it out like that. It wasn't
controlled, it wasn't like me.”

“
Why were they killed?” I asked, eager to stop her from
wriggling out from under the pressure. I had a feeling it was her
default way of handling grief. It wasn't mine.

“
Let it go, Miller.”

“
No, I won't. What happened?”

She chewed on her breakfast, still unable to look directly at
me. Then she drank some water before fixing me with her beautiful
blue eyes.

“
They were extremists from a local cell. They wanted to send a
message to the French Prime Minister, telling her how angry they
were at her administration. They didn't target us, we just happened
to be there at the hotel they wanted to shoot up. We were just
unlucky.”

“
What happened to them?”

“
They blew themselves up before they could be arrested. And
that was the last I heard.”

“
That's why you retired?” She nodded.

“
Yeah. Now you know, so let's forget about it. It was a long
time ago and I'm sorry for bringing it up, okay? You've got enough
to worry about.”

I let it drop and carried on eating, feeling better after the
meal. I got up and looked at the steel hooks in the wall. They
looked like they could take my weight.

“
What are you thinking?” she asked.

“
Something you said before, about getting on that roof. I
think I'll climb up and take a look around.”

“
Be my guest,” she replied.

Riley leaned against the wall, putting her good leg out so
that I could use her knee as a step-up. I pulled myself to the
first hook, then grabbed the roof beam and dragged myself up onto
the logs.

I crouched down in the carpet of snow that'd fallen over the
last few days and I noticed that it'd begun to freeze. The
temperature was dropping and the snow was becoming hard. It
wouldn't be long before the worst of the weather came in and I
wasn't sure how we'd handle it. With the right gear we could
survive, but with what we had it'd be a different story. Still, it
wasn't worth thinking about at that point - across the field
towards the woods was a trail of bloody mess where the dogs had
fled. Any plans I had to gather more logs would have to be put on
hold.

“
What do you see?” called Riley.

“
They ran into the trees,” I replied. “Pass me the
rifle.”

The stock of the weapon appeared and I took it from her,
aiming the scope towards the woodland which looked a little worse
for wear given that I'd been cutting most of it down of late. Even
with the magnified view I could see very little. Suddenly I saw a
flash in the distance and a moment later the sound of a weapon
being fired. I cursed under my breath keeping the rifle aimed in
roughly the right direction. There was another blast, then silence.
Something was moving, hovering above the ground. It was a
helicopter of some kind but too far away to identify. It was slowly
moving east, searching for something.

“
Put the fire out!” I yelled down to Riley. “Dowse it in snow.
There's a 'copter out there.”

“
Fuck!” she replied and I heard the hiss of the flames dying
and the scraping of snow over the ashes.

I edged closer to the last log, ready to drop down if it
turned our way. I followed it with the scope until it'd gone,
disappearing north over the horizon.

“
It could have dropped troopers,” said Riley. “A search
team.”

“
Why though? We're dead,” I said, scanning the woods with the
scope. “It's been too long. Why start looking now?”

“
Something must have made them think we weren't - enough to
want to make sure. They've run into the dogs though. That was
automatic rifle fire.”

“
You could tell?” I knew that she was giving me
that
look even though I
couldn't see her.

“
Just get down here.”

I slid over the edge, dropping heavily into the dirt. I
passed the rifle back to Riley and she began counting out the last
of the ammunition.

“
You're thinking we should take them out first?” I
said.

“
Yep. What would you do?”

“
Exactly the same. Go on the offensive, try to get some Intel
off them as well as the gear we need to travel with - which I have
no doubt they'll be carrying.”

“
So we're in agreement then?”

“
Sort of,” I said. “The leg?”

“
I'm a marksman - distance is my thing. I'll head back up onto
that ridge we came down off and work north from there.”

“
Sounds good,” I said. “I'll work through the woods to the
east and back-track west once I'm deep enough in. Hopefully you
won't have to shoot them too soon. How many do you think they'll
send?”

“
A five man team, maybe less. Just to look for bodies they
might only send two. Work on the idea there might be five. What
about the dogs?”

“
They'll work in our favour now. It's risky but if I come
running out into the open with them running after me then feel free
to shoot a few. We'll meet back here at sunset if all else
fails.”

“
What's your goal?”

“
To try and take one alive,” I said.

“
The rest?” she replied. I shrugged.

“
We can't manage hostages and I'm not letting them walk about
- even if they are unarmed by the time we're finished. They tried
to kill us and now they're back to finish the job. It's war in my
opinion. Are you okay with that?”

“
I'm fucking peachy with it.”

“
What if they're your people?”

“
Like you said - it's war. I want to survive this and I don't
give a shit about the cost right now.”

I nodded and she grinned. “Back to work, eh?”

“
You could say that.”

With my jacket on her back and her usual sunglasses and hat,
I wouldn't have believed she was the same injured woman from a few
days ago. She was limping on her bad leg but she was able to get
across to the ridge in good time whilst I went east for a click
before coming back north, then west and into the woods from the
other side. My nerves had gone now and I was back in that strange
zone that professionals sometimes find themselves in - a place of
calm confidence in their ability to succeed. My heart was beating
steadily and I felt the tension in my muscles that told me I was
ready for action.