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Ravens in the Sky
(Nicole) |
Earlier, when the battle raged and fires and axes ate away at the walls of the settlement, a child and four women huddled in a dark hole. They weren't prepared when the timbers collapsed with a thundering crash that rumbled the shelter violently, showering the inhabitants with dirt. The poles supporting the trapdoor fell away. The door swung its full arc and latched itself to the ceiling. The loose soil cascaded in and the air filled with choking dust and the blare of the battle above. Now, only the fallen timbers concealed the hiding place of the five.
Nicole fumbled for the revolver and her mind flashed with its intended use. Frantically she gripped the gun and swung it toward the opening. As she scooted to her left, she whispered commands to herself. "No, no. The kids, Awa." She swung the gun to the right, froze, and waited.
Moments passed without an intruder. Nicole trembled to the staccato of tramping feet. The pile of soil beneath the entrance was topped with glowing cools, lighting the ash that fell to the rhythm of the stomping. The women huddled as mice in the ash chamber of a wood stove, while screaming and howling humans sought their capture.
Nicole whispered to the others, "The timbers must have collapsed. They're running over us."
The girls murmured something. Awa whispered, "The devils are here."
Nicole responded, "Be quiet, be very quiet."
Occasionally a voice shouted directly into the chamber and the mice flinched with a fear that had real pain.
Then suddenly it ended. The drumming stopped; the screaming gone. The air-borne dust settled silently. Nicole leaned to her left and peered up at the ruby red of smoldering timbers. She sighed and slumped, her back against the wall. In a shaky voice she whispered. "There's time…timbers cover the hole."
Nicole lowered the weapon to her lap and shivered at distant noise and unintelligible words. She looked at the soft ashen dust coating her arms and her tongue sampled its taste with a flick across her lips. She gathered the soiled saliva and pushed it through her pouted lips. Hot, glowing embers illuminated the shelter in a feverous red.
Nicole's eyes shifted to Julia and Chimene and a moment later to Awa and Cheveyo. Her lips formed silent words. "Five people, six cartridges…and the first?" Nicole balked and closed her eyes tightly. "Discipline, Nicole, push your emotions away," she thought.
Slowly she contrived a death plan. Julia will be first and then, as quickly as possible, Chimene. Two more shots in the direction of Awa and the baby. Nicole closed her eyes again. "My aim will be true." For herself, inserting the barrel of the gun into her mouth concluded the plan. Nicole took a deep breath, scanned the phantom-like shapes in the hellish light and rethought the plan.
She injected more detail. There would be commotion from above, yelling and screaming as the timbers were pried apart. Then feet would thump onto the chamber. Capture being assured, she'd raise the pistol toward Julia. Perhaps a voice. "What's down there." That's when she would pull the trigger. Julia would slump over as she quickly pointed at Chimene and fired. Two more quick shots, the first at the child, the second at the mother. And then, finally the gun to her mouth. Nicole hung her head and wondered if the barrel would be hot, and if her suicide would be easy.
She repeated the death scenario, reinforcing her intentions with vivid imaginings of her loved ones in the hands of the berserks. Her breathing slowed and a calm state enveloped her. She raised her knees and held the weapon in her right hand, between her legs. She ceased her visual concentration and tuned an ear to the noise from above.
Julia watched her mother. She watched the movement of her head, and saw the gun in her hand. Julia's right hand clutched at Chimene's trousers, and she whispered to her, "I hope I am first."
Chimene, mesmerized by the glow of the coals, whispered, "You will be. I'm sure."
She reached over to touch Julia's hand. "Look at the red coals. They're warm and cozy." She paused and then squeezed Julia's hand. "I've been shot before. It doesn't hurt."
Awa rocked back and forth, the bundle cradled to her bosom. There was no sound from either.
In the living tomb, time slowed to a stagnant pool, it slouched and never flowed. Their light was the red of the coals, while tramping feet echoed as muffled thunder. Horror oozed with periodic screams of men, women, and children, fading screams that compelled unwanted images. |
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