Adrian Smith - The Rule of Three

And we’re in the bloody dam! They’re imprisoning us in the dam! Why?

Jack gazed out the window, hoping for further clues as to which hydro-electric dam they were in.

“Mum?” croaked George.

“What’s up buddy?” Jack said, hurrying over.

“I want my mum.”

Jack paused. Do I tell him the truth? Sugarcoat it? He went for in between.

“Still out there, buddy. You and I are going to be like Spiderman and save her. What do you think of that?”

George nodded in agreement, his eyes cast to the floor.

“You must be hungry, eh?” Jack said, lifting George’s chin up and wiping away his tears.

“Yup,” George whispered.

“Okay buddy, you hang in there. I just want to barricade this door first, okay?”

Jack quickly searched the room for anything to lean up against the door. He didn’t want to drag anything across the floor, so the lockers were out.

He moved past the metal switch cupboards to the back of the room where the storage lockers were. They were set against adjacent walls and a gap had been left in the corner. It was perfect. It wouldn’t help against any monsters, but it might be of use if the fat guy came along.

Collecting George, he hoisted him up to sit on top of the lockers, then hauled himself up and down the other side and lifted George down. Pulling all his clothes out of his pack, he made them into a sort of bean bag to sit on. Jack opened his snack box.

“Chocolate?”

The little red-head kid smiled at him as he handed him a bar of Whittaker’s. They ate in silence, enjoying the sweet treat.

Jack looked down at George eating and thought about the other boy he’d tried to save. The creatures had attacked them so fast he’d had no time to save Flatcap and his family. Jack pushed the image of the little boy being torn apart from his mind. Now was not the time to dwell on it. He glanced at George again. Chocolate smeared around his face.

Jack reached out and ruffled his hair, grinning at the little fighter. “Well, George, how do we get out of the Pit of Despair?”

George shrugged his shoulders, rested his head against Jack’s chest and fell asleep.

Jack stared out the window a long time, turning everything over in his mind. He ran through a thousand scenarios trying to figure a way to escape, but kept drawing a blank.

Finally, he let sleep take him.

Dee stirred in the bottom of the boat and stretched out her cramped legs. She could see Boss hunched over the steering wheel. Focused on keeping the boat in the middle of the river.

The pack of Variants had tracked them upriver all night, screeching at them. Howling at them. Dee had watched them for hours, cringing inwardly every time they uttered a sound. It was a noise that no matter how many times you heard it, it never got easier to bear.

Dee was surprised she had fallen asleep. Her nerves were a tattered mess. Searching the river banks, there was no sign of the monsters now. She glanced up at the sky, thankful for the sunshine. It gave them a chance to move on land.

“Hey.” She smiled, looking at Boss.

“Hey.” Boss turned and yawned. “About time you woke up.”

“Why didn’t you wake me. I would’ve taken the wheel.”

“You looked exhausted.”

“Any idea where we are?” Dee said, standing.

“Still out in farming land, by the smell. Variants buggered off about an hour ago.”

“About time. Don’t know if I could’ve handled that much longer. I felt like a goldfish being watched by a ravenous cat.”

“What do you mean? You slept all night.”

“Well, someone had to.” Dee smiled. She scanned around, searching. “C’mon. Let’s find some food. And we really need a gun. Farmers are good for guns, right?”

“Yeah, I suppose.” Boss shrugged and yawned again.

He spun the wheel and moved the boat closer towards the shore. Dee stood next to him and gripped her katana as she searched the bank for Variants, fearful of them darting out of the shadows. Swarming the boat and tearing them apart. They waited in the boat with the engine switched off. Dee could hear birds and insects and the rustle of trees in the late morning breeze but everything else remained silent. Satisfied, she tapped Boss on the shoulder and leapt from the boat.

“Let’s go. Silently,” Dee whispered.

Dee and Boss kept to the tree line. Creeping along, they tracked inland, making for one of the houses. It was a single-storey brick home with a large deck extending from the back. A couple of large sheds lay adjacent. Keeping to the shadows of the trees, Dee and Boss cautiously came up one side. They stopped a few metres from the back door. Heart pounding, Dee gripped the katana for comfort. She looked for any signs of occupants, or Variants. Glancing left and right, she came up clear. Not a sound came from the house.

“What do you think?” Dee said, nudging Boss.

“I don’t know?” Boss said, shrugging.

Dee forced herself to remain calm. She wasn’t used to dealing with a teenager’s attitude. She let out a breath. “Boss, I’m sorry you didn’t get any sleep last night, all right? But right now we need to focus on getting some food, and hopefully a gun or two. Something to better fight the Variants with. So let’s just do this, then get back to the boat. You can get some sleep then, okay?”

“Okay, sure, cool, whatever. But we need petrol too.”

Dee waited for Boss to add anything else. When he didn’t, she rose up and headed for the back door.

As Dee approached the door, she could see it was open a crack. Frowning, her heart skipped a beat. She peered in through the gap. No movement. No tell-tale rotten fruit smell. Looking back at Boss, she raised a finger to her lips.

Dee pushed the door open wider with the tip of her katana. Inside, she could see the kitchen. Drawers had been pulled out, cupboards opened and emptied. Ransacked. It looked like the only food left was dried pasta and rice.

Dee and Boss slowly made their way through the kitchen and into the living area of the house. Arriving at the bedrooms, she could see that whoever had lived here had made a hasty retreat. Unpacked clothes lay on the beds, along with personal items too big to fit in suitcases.

Damn! I wonder if they have any guns?

Boss moved to the wardrobes, rummaging through them. “Hey, Dee, these would be handy.” He held out two fleece zip-up jackets.

“Definitely, nice find. Keep looking. I’m going to hunt for food, okay?”

“Yeah, all right. What else should we grab?”

“See if you can find a couple of backpacks.”

Dee headed into the other rooms, searching. Coming up empty-handed, she went back to Boss searching around in the master bedroom.

“Find anything else?”

“Nah,” Boss said.

Dee ran her hands through her hair and sighed. “All right. Let’s try that other house we saw. I think we should hurry though.”

“We should grab that rice and pasta, at least,” Boss murmured. “And what about guns?”

“I figure the family living here took them when they cleared out.”

“We should at least check the garage. Or those sheds,” Boss said. “We need petrol for the boat.”

“Okay.” Dee nodded.

The sheds had the usual open fronts. Dee could see a couple of big farm machines taking up most of the space. She had no idea what they did. With all the prongs and blades poking out, they looked like some medieval torture devices. She sighed. If Jack was here he’d be telling her about some horror movie he’d watched. Even acting out a scene where the machines had been used to kill someone.

“Dee? You okay?” Boss said, frowning at her.

Dee blinked away her thoughts of Jack and looked around the sheds. “Fine.”