The Burning Fields (Surviving the Fall 5)

“I know, darling. Just a little longer.” The mother picks up her daughter and looks at her husband. “How much farther do you think?

“Just up the next street.” He holds a tattered flyer in his hand and taps at the address printed on the bottom. “We can only get enough for three days but that should tide us over until we can get out of the city.”

As the trio cross the last street before their destination they look off to their right, seeing the iconic image of Big Ben towering over the city below. The clock has not rung in days, though, and while the mother and child are too busy watching where they are going to notice, the father sees that large pieces of the clocktower have been torn out by some sort of attack. The father grinds his teeth at the sight but says nothing as he follows his wife and daughter to their destination.

Outside the small fish and chip shop the street is barren without a soul in sight. The father looks around, confused by the lack of other people, and talks quietly to his wife. “This is the right place… right?”

His wife takes the flyer and looks at the address before nodding. “This is the place.”

“So where is everyone?”

The man’s wife points at the window. “There’s a light on in the back. I guess someone’s home after all.”

The man looks through the window and nods. “All right. Let’s get inside quickly, get our food and go.”

The tables and chairs in the small shop have all been moved to one side. Large stacks of plastic containers dyed bright yellow sit next to the tables and chairs, all of them filled with discarded food packaging and wrappers. Two boxes that are partially full of food sit near the back of the shop and the father nearly runs toward them before resolving to maintain his decorum even in the face of hunger and tragedy.

He walks up to the counter and hits the small bell with his hand, sending a shrill ring echoing through every room of the building. There is no answer and, after several seconds of waiting, he rings the bell again. His wife and daughter stand close to him and his wife whispers after another several seconds pass.

“Where is everyone?”

The man shakes his head. “I don’t know. This seems…odd.” The man walks around and peeks behind the counter, noticing too late that there are two men crouched in hiding. The father staggers back as the two men jump out, each of them wielding large butcher’s knives in their right hands.

“Get down on the floor!” One of the men screams at the father and pushes the father over, knocking him to the ground. The other man leaps over the counter and runs to the front door, bolting it before the mother and daughter can even think about leaving. A flurry of words are exchanged between the men before the one nearest the door begins pushing the child and wife into the back of the shop.

“Stop! What are you doing?” The father struggles to his feet but the man standing over him with the knife kicks him in the head, knocking him back down to the floor.

“You stay down!” The man runs behind the counter and leers at his companion. The other man pushes the small girl to the ground and tears at the mother’s clothing, ignoring the screams of terror and panic from both her and her child.

The father crawls along the floor, his head spinning and his vision blurry as he desperately tries to stop what is unfolding in the back room. He pulls himself up to his knees just as the man who kicked him comes back out of the room. The man sees the father and snarls at him before raising the butcher knife and running forward.

Crack!

The sound of glass breaking accompanies a stagger in the knife-wielder’s gait. He goes from charging at the father to starting to fall over, grasping at the wall as he drops the knife. Several more cracks sound out as the front glass windows shatter and blood pours from gaping wounds in the man’s chest. The father turns to look at the front window as a dozen men dressed head to toe in black enter through the window and the door, breaking through wood and glass as they storm the building.

The noise and commotion draws the attention of the man in the back room who steps out, his knife having been forgotten on a shelf. He sees the body of his companion first and his eyes grow large. He screams and tries to escape back into the room but the loud snaps of suppressed weapons fill the shop with noise. The man drops to the floor, having taken sixteen rounds through his back and head.

The father tries to pull himself to his feet but he is interrupted by two of the men in black. They pull him up and pat him down, pulling his legs and arms apart to ensure he isn’t hiding weapons of any type. One of them pulls the father’s wallet from his pocket and opens it before showing the photograph on the ID card to one of the other men.

“Civilian.” The voice of the man in black is muffled by his mask but his companion understands him nonetheless.

“Get the child and the woman outside with him. Load up. We need to move.” The order comes from one of the other men in the

shop. The command is swiftly carried out and the father soon sees his wife and daughter being helped out of the back room.

The father is confused by what is going on, his head still spinning from the blow he sustained. “What are you doing with us?” His speech is slurred and the words don’t come out properly but one of the men in black helping him out into the street replies anyway.

“Emergency evacuation. Door-to-door sweeps.”

“Evacuation? To… to where?”

“North. We’re pulling out of the city.”

“Leaving the city?” The father shakes his head and instantly regrets it. “Why?”

“It’s overrun. Nationalist groups merged with the Fascist Liberation Party by the looks of it. They’re waging an all-out war on any and everyone they’ve ever disliked. Today’s the day of their big cleansing from the looks of it.” The man in black points to a military truck a few feet away. “Up inside you go, sir. Your wife and daughter, too.”

“Thank you.” The father doesn’t know what else to say. He tries to process what the man is saying as he helps his wife and daughter into the truck. There are several other families in the back, each of them looking terrified beyond belief. The father finally notices his wife’s condition and embraces her as she holds her daughter to her chest while trying to pull the scraps of cloth that used to be her shirt up around herself.