The lone figure on the beach waves. We edge to the back of the raft. Spoons slows and we drift closer. Amos stammers. ‘Is… is that a man or a woman?’
‘Does that matter?’ Reuben bends to pick up an oar. ‘What matters is, are they friendly?’
I stay his hand. ‘They’re waving, that looks friendly to me.’ The figure holds their hands to their mouth and shouts something, but we cannot hear. I stare hard trying to make out more of their features. ‘Are they one of us?’ They wave again, but this time it’s seems more frantic, not a greeting more a suggestion to hurry up.
Reuben frowns. ‘Either they’re in a hurry to meet us… or kill us.’
As we draw closer, Reuben grunts. ‘I don’t think they’re from our ship. Look at those clothes.’ He’s right. I’ve never seen anything like it – the dark material shimmers and fits tight like a second skin.
Amos’s jaw drops. ‘It’s a woman.’
The woman paces up and down the shoreline until we’re within a dozen meters. Then she wades in up to her knees, searching the skies behind. She shouts again. ‘Quick! We have to get off the beach!’
We stand helpless, unable to do anything to speed our progress. Spoons attaches his body to the front and pulls the raft onto the sand. But despite the woman’s anxiety, none of us move, unable to take our eyes off the stranger. She looks a few years older than Rebekah. Her black hair is held tight against her head, but her skin looks like nothing I’ve seen before. Her color is a little lighter than Naomi’s but while one side of her face is smooth, the other is wrinkled and looks as old as Moses.
The woman notices our attention and raises her hand to cover the older skin. She continues to glance over our heads to the sky. ‘Please. Please, you must hurry.’
I shake out of my stupor and grab a handle on one of the crates. ‘Okay, but we better get these off, in case a storm washes them away.’
Reuben takes the other and we drag it onto the beach. I jump back onto the raft to help Amos pull the second crate alongside the first. I stop for a closer look at the woman. ‘Who are you?’
She struggles to stand still, keeping an eye on the horizon as she speaks. ‘Please. No time now. We can talk later. But please, we have to find cover.’
‘Cover? Why?’ Reuben follows her gaze. ‘Is there a storm coming?’
The woman bends and takes a handle. ‘No, worse. Please we must move.’
I look to Reuben. He shrugs. Then we hear it: a distant boom. We freeze. Amos mumbles. ‘That’s what we heard at—’
The woman screams. ‘They’re coming! To the dunes.’ Dunes? She drops the handle and runs. We follow as best we can, stumbling on the soft sand while the woman seems to skim across the beach. She reaches a gap between two low hills of sand and turns jabbing her finger over our shoulders. ‘Drones!’
I turn to see four black dots against the high clouds, then trip and land, face down in the sand. Two hands grab my arms and haul me to my feet. But my legs weaken as the shriek from the skies grows louder. I glance up as the dots streak high overhead then split, two to the left, two to the right and soar upwards as they bank, turning ready to return. I find my strength and together we race to the sand hills.
The woman digs, scooping sand to make a hole. ‘Cover yourselves!’ We don’t wait to ask why. We delve our hands into the soft sand and burrow as the drones shoot over our heads.
The woman cries out over the screech. ‘That’s deep enough. Please cover yourselves. They’ll come back.’ The woman pulls a hood over her head and rolls into the shallow trench, scooping the heap of sand over her body. The din overhead suddenly drops as they pass over the sea. The muffled voice of our stranger cries out. ‘Get out of sight.’ I clamber into the small hole I’ve managed to clear, and shovel the sand back until only my head shows. But Spoons doesn’t seem satisfied. He rushes up the bank and dislodges more sand, covering us completely.
I spit sand from my mouth. ‘What are they?’
The woman hisses. ‘Quiet! Please. They’ll hear. Don’t move.’ I push my face down in the warm sand and roll into a ball as the drones’ return. I hold my breath. The wailing dies but only because they hover directly above our position. They buzz and bleep as if talking to each other. I squeeze tighter into my ball, expecting metal claws to snatch me up into the air any moment. Their frustrated whirring rises and falls as they search the dunes. A squeal. Have they seen us? The burst of sound forces my shaking body deeper, but then silence. I dare to take a sand-laden breath and listen. In the distance, the drones shriek – they’ve found their prey.
The woman sighs. ‘Okay. It’s safe… for now.’ We emerge, spitting the sand from our mouths and brushing it from our clothes.
I slowly stand and search the sky. ‘What were they?’
The woman straightens and walks a few paces up the dune - the sand slides off her suit as if it were water. She kneels and peers over the top of the tufty grass growing on the ridge. She looks back. ‘The drones?’ She frowns as if the answer should be obvious. ‘They’re from your ship.’
My stomach turns. ‘Our ship? But why would they—?’
She shakes her head. ‘I’ll explain later.’ She skips lightly back down the dune. ‘Your mechanoid has distracted them, but they’ll come back.’
Amos shakes the sand from his hair. He looks to me and mouths, ‘Mechanoid?’
‘She means Spoons, I guess.’
The woman calls from the beach. ‘Please, get the supplies and follow me.’
We did as we were told. Sweat poured from my face and stung my eyes as we drag the crates over the soft sand of the dunes. Twice I ripped my overall, on the coarse bushes lining the narrow path, the second cut deep into my leg and I’d felt the blood trickle down to my ankle. But as hard as it was, the dread of being caught in the open by those screeching drones, kept us going.
I wipe my eyes with my sleeve and glance up, no sign - now I’d welcome the return of the dark storm clouds. The woman calls out. ‘Not far now.’ I check ahead. The low bushes with the sharp edges, cover the ground for another hundred feet or so, but then… I stop and stare. Rising majestically beyond I see my first real tree, surrounded by dozens more. They reach high up to the sky as if they could snare passing clouds with their upper branches. They’re not the same as the one in my book, these are infinitely more beautiful. My eyes wander down to the solid trunk of the closest, slightly twisted as it must have forced its way through the hard earth. It could have stood here for—
‘Noah!’ I jump. Reuben yells as he tries to drag the crate without my help. ‘Noah. Move. They’re coming back.’ I grab the handle, just as I hear the shriek that freezes my blood. ‘Over there!’ We leave our cargo and dive headlong into the bushes. A thousand needles jab through my clothes, but I push my body to the ground ignoring the pain to get out of sight. We scramble onto our elbows and knees to crouch beside Amos and the stranger. Amos winces as he dabs the many cuts on his face, but the woman has pulled the hood back over her head and shows little sign of injury.
I clasp my ears as the first drone streaks overhead, tearing the sky apart with its fury. I squint between the sharp twigs just as another slows and hovers overhead. The drone is dull grey and triangular. At the front, a bulbous nose appears to be sniffing the ground, seeking us out. At the back, what looks like wings curl under its smooth body. But I can’t tell its size as it’s difficult to gauge if it’s a few feet or hundreds of feet above.
Amos cries out. The drone swivels and drops lower. The woman smothers Amos’s mouth so only his wide, white eyes can scream as it flits across the sky. She whispers as loud as she dares. ‘We’ll have to leave your supplies and come back later.’ She lowers her hand from Amos’s mouth. ‘Please accept my apologies but I had to stop you making a noise.’ Amos nods but can’t find his voice. She points over her shoulder. ‘We have to get to the trees,’ we cower as two more drones scream past, ‘they won’t be so easily distracted again by your mechanoid, and they don’t give up.’
Our progress is painfully slow crawling on our bellies through the thick bushes. The needles jutting out from every twig, snagged and tore at our overalls until they hung like grey leaves from thin threads. But we endured the pain knowing scratches will heal faster than whatever those drones had planned for us. They’d continued their search, passing twice, low and so close I’m sure they grazed the top of the bushes. But as we’d neared the trees we began to feel safer and eventually the drones moved further down the coast. While crawling, I found myself thinking of Spoons, hoping he’d avoided his pursuers. I know it’s only a machine, but we’ve all become fond of the metal beast and would miss him, and not only for his strength.
We stretch and groan as we stand, relieved to get out of the bushes and off our hands and knees. The woman pulls back her hood and grimaces at our sorry state. ‘I will treat those cuts as soon as we get to the shelter.’
I squint, searching the bright sky in between the branches. ‘How far? Will we be safe?’
‘Not far. Ten more minutes, and most certainly safer than we are out here.’
‘And what about the drones?’
‘We’ll be okay for the moment. They’ll be back. They’ll summon the gunship to raze the forest.’
‘Raise?’ Amos stares up at the green canopy. ‘How will they lift all these?’
The woman frowns. ‘With fire, they’ll burn it to the ground.’
My shoulders drop. I take a few steps towards the nearest tree. ‘Destroy it? But it’s—’
‘Don’t fret, it will grow again, they always do.’ Always? I run my fingers across the ridges that run up the length of the trunk. It feels ancient as if it’s been here since the beginning of time and will stand until the suns burn out and the skies turn black. My shoulder tingles as the woman lightly touches it. ‘I felt the same the first time I saw a real tree, but please, right now we have to get undercover.’ I open my mouth, she lifts his finger, ‘And then I’ll answer all of your questions… as best I can.’
‘And can we get one of those suits?’ Reuben hisses as he peels a strip of clothing from dried blood on his arm.
She looks to the floor. ‘I can’t make any promises, times are difficult. Our resources are low.’ I can see Reuben wants to ask another question, but our guide glides off, hastening us to follow.
I take the opportunity to take in the beauty of the forest. I could never have imagined one could look like this. Above, the leaves form a green roof that changes as the breeze brings it to life. Amos and Reuben stare open-mouthed. I try to explain. ‘I saw a forest in the Dream-maker, well sort of, but it looked nothing like this.’
Reuben shakes his head. ‘If Earth was like this, why destroy it? What the—?’ A small, fury animal sits up a short distance ahead. It sees us and bounces across the forest floor with its long bushy tail floating behind like a flag. It reaches a trunk and scampers up to the branches as quickly as it had moved across the forest floor.
The woman calls over her shoulder. ‘That is a squirrel... from Earth. The birds would normally be singing but the drones will have frightened them away.’
I stop and look up to the branches. ‘Birds? I would love to hear a real one sing.’
She turns. ‘Please, I know this is all new to you but we must get to the shelter. The gunship will be here in a little over five minutes.’
Amos gasps. ‘And how long to the shelter?’
‘Five minutes.’
‘We’re here.’ The woman squats and parts the grass.
‘Where?’ I look around. ‘At the shelter?’
She nods. ‘Give me a moment.’ She lifts a flap in the forest floor, then glances around before tapping on a keypad beneath. We jump back as the ground hisses. A slab rises slowly to reveal steps descending into shadow.
The woman gestures for us to enter. ‘Down?’ Amos groans. I take Amos’ hand. ‘This is different, this isn’t The Purge.’
‘Please, you must.’ The woman looks up. ‘If the gunship comes…’ She turns, holding up her hand again. Amos leads the way. I follow, glancing back at the green forest as I pass below ground level. The woman sighs. ‘Good, please wait a moment.’ The hiss hurts my ears but while my heart sinks to see the daylight shut out, I’m relieved as the thick door lowers and clicks into position.
A dim light flickers on the wall, just bright enough to show the steps descending deeper in to the ground. Our guide speaks, her voice sounding loud in the enclosed space. ‘Careful, the steps are steep and some of the lights will be off.’ I put my hand on the rough wall for reassurance and feel Reuben’s hand on my shoulder.
The ground shudders followed by a distant boom. The woman dryly announces the obvious. ‘They’re back. Hurry now, we’ll not survive a direct hit up here.’ I trip as another explosion shakes the stairs, the lights go out, flicker and come back on, but barely bright enough to show the way.
I look back. ‘That was closer. Can the—?’ Another. Closer still. I hunch my shoulders and crouch, fearing the skies will come crashing down on our heads. But the woman hasn’t stopped, already a dozen steps ahead and disappearing into the gloom. Her voice echoes as she urges us on. We need no more encouragement as another explosion slams onto the forest above.
Reuben shouts over the din. ‘This is like that story of the enemy breaking through the dome.’
I glance up, immediately regretting the move as grit lands in my eyes. I scrape it from my sockets. ‘Yeah, but who would have thought it would be her attacking.’
‘We’re here.’ I blink. The woman taps another keypad similar to the one Solomon had used for the elevator. A door slides silently open – we don’t wait to be asked and rush through eager to escape the carnage behind. The door slides shut. Our rescuer is not in the room.