Don't Look Back (Warders of Earth) (11 page)

“Aw, Mum, not this conspiracy shit again.” Throwing my hands in the air, I stormed to the door. I’d always found anger the easiest way to deal with stress.

“Tara!” Mum’s sharp voice stopped me from leaving the room.

I slumped against the doorjamb, my eyes squeezed shut.

“This is vital. Keep quiet about whatever strange memories you have of your early life.”

My heart skipped a beat. Immediately a vision of that sterile, white room peopled with shadowy figures popped into my mind. My stomach clenched and I folded my arms across my chest. How could she know?

Mum continued, “You must learn to consider others’ needs before your own. With the Warders appearance in town, the Mundos Novus Force won’t be far behind if they haven’t already infiltrated the area. Unfortunately, both your father and I believe it’s too late to run. This town is where we will stand.”

I spun round and gaped at her.
What the hell?

“God, Mum.” Shaking my head, I could only stand there and gape at the light of battle burning in my mother’s face.

“Remember, both of you. Everyone has secrets. Even the Warders. The sensei appears a solid man but I sense he’s keeping something from me. Not everyone is who they say they are, just like us.”

What was this shit?

My heartbeats roared inside my head. I whispered, “Who are we, Mum?”

My fingernails dug into my palms as I gripped my hands together. This was all new, this paranoid hysteria But like a nest of red-belly black snakes, doubt slivered in the dark recesses of my mind. My hot words of protest choked in my throat while I recalled the past few days.

And the questions, that had begun to plague me.

Were we refugees from some war torn country?

“We’re runners. All of us, your father, myself, both of you. We took you from an underground bunker and escaped. We’ve been running ever since.”

Chapter 7 – THE STORM

I stared around the aisles of the supermarket in disbelief. After Mum had dropped another one of her bombshells, she’d left the room and with my head whirling and pounding, I’d headed for work.

The pub had been busy with a truckload of Air-Force guys turning up apparently determined to run the bar dry. Too late by the time I reached home to question Mum, I’d flopped exhausted into bed and slept until mid morning. Dreams of a faceless man, dressed in a white coat bending over me, had made for a restless night. I woke feeling as if I hadn’t slept in a week.

My own confused thoughts hadn’t helped either.

Mum had bustled into the kitchen where I was stacking the dishes after breakfast which was really brunch, and asked Dan and me to help her with the shopping. She’d yakked on and on about food rationing and stocking up on supplies. In order to stave off another conversation that was bound to send me screaming off into the bush, or turn my bones to mush, I’d agreed to come along.

Now as I stood unmoving in the grocery aisle, that niggling sensation in my mind loomed like the shadow of doom.

It was chaos.

The rumour of imminent impacts must have spread throughout the town, sparking a frenzy of shoppers. I overheard the people standing next to me talking about it. I couldn’t believe my ears. In hoarse voices they whispered of the end of days and an impending invasion.

Did people really believe this stuff? What if it was true?

By the number of vacant shelves, people must have been raiding the shop since it opened that morning. Now at barely midday, stock had dwindled at an alarming rate.

There were people everywhere. Some were pushing two or three trolleys loaded to the hilt. The lines to the checkouts spread down the aisles. People were elbowing and shoving each other, grabbing anything and everything in sight.

The noise was unbelievable. I caught a brief glimpse of Marnie squeezing past a trolley loaded to the hilt. She was lugging a huge container of spring water and disappeared from sight before I could call out to her.

Someone touched my arm.

I spun around to front my grim-faced mother who said, “This isn’t good, Tara. It’s not going to take much for these people to start a riot. Have you got the list?”

“It’s okay, Mum. I’ve got the list memorised. Why don’t you wait out in the carpark with Dan?”

Mum reached out and brushed her knuckles along my cheek. “You’re always trying to protect us. No, we’ll do better if we each work our way through the list and meet up at the checkouts. I can’t help wondering who spread the rumours about town. It was a very foolish thing to do.”

“As long as Dad isn’t involved, I don’t really care. I’ll catch you later, Mum.” I squeezed Mum’s hand before striding off down the aisle, shouldering my way through the press of people. Mum was right. The tension crackled in the air like a stick of dynamite. It wouldn’t take much to set off an explosion.

At least people were still polite but determined. Mrs Anderson from down the road, after a mumbled apology, snatched the last box of matches from beneath my fingers.

A trolley jabbed me in the back. While I was rubbing the sore spot, someone trod on my toes. I should have stayed home. Wheeling to the right, I ducked to avoid being hit on the head by the guy from the service station who barrelled past balancing a sack of potatoes on his shoulders.

What a shitty weekend this had turned out to be.

I wandered the aisles and soon had the shopping bags full.

A sudden roll of thunder made me jump.

I looked out of the huge plate glass windows which made up the majority of the front of the supermarket. The day had dawned hot and sultry and still. A sure indication bad weather was on its way and by the look of the heavy, black clouds darkening what I could see of the sky, a dangerous storm was brewing.

A jagged spear of lightning slashed through the green-tinged, dark clouds. The streetlights switched on automatically, as the growing dimness registered on their sensors. Another rumble of thunder shuddered the building.

Inside the shop, the rattle and bustle of the shoppers ceased. Wary glances were cast towards the carpark were the trees doing sentinel duty along the sidewalk drooped motionless, as if exhausted from the heat.

I didn’t like this; I had a feeling all hell was about to break loose.

Time for us to get out of here.

Climbing onto the first shelf facing me, I looked over the crowd searching for Dan and Mum. I found them over near the meat section. But they weren’t alone. Even as I stared, a guy with short fair hair turned and glanced in my direction.

Alex.

My heart did a funny flop in my chest as our gazes met. Mum raised her hand and beckoned. I jumped to the floor and picked up the jammed-packed calico shopping bags. Turning my back to the windows, I headed for the rear of the building.

Just in time.

From behind, came the roar of the wind as loud as a runaway freight train. The force smashed into the glass, shattering shards into the store and slammed into my back like a giant hand. I fell forward, knocking against a shelf, smacking my shin on the wheel of a trolley which at least stopped some of my momentum. With my hands full of shopping bags, I landed facedown on the floor.

Pain shot along my jaw, shooting down my neck and up the side of my head. Blood spurted hot and sickly sweet inside my mouth as my teeth bit my tongue. My gut lurched at the awful taste. For thirty seconds I saw nothing but stars. As the pain eased my vision returned.

The sound of screams intermingled with the howling of the wind and the drumming of the rain as it fell in torrents from the sky. The pounding on the roof was deafening.

Then the lights went out.

Someone kicked me in the ribs then tripped over me. The heavy weight pinned me to the vinyl floor. I wheezed, “Crap. Get off me.” 

Scrabbling about, I managed to wriggle out from beneath the body before staggering to my feet by hanging onto the shelf next to me. The woman, who’d fallen on top of me, still lay on the ground floundering about like a fish beached on the riverbank and wailing. My head spinning, I reached down to the woman and hauled her upright.

“Thanks.” The other woman grabbed an unattended and upright trolley and stumbled down the aisle.

I need to find Mum and Dan, make sure they’re okay.
With my heart pounding heavily, I spat out blood and wiped the back of my shaking hand across my mouth. Blinking away tears of pain I peered around the now dark interior. I took a few seconds to grope about the floor for the grocery bags with no luck. I doubted the contents would be intact anyway.

The wind howled. Leaves, paper and plastic blew crazily around the aisles, whipping against my legs, brushing past my face, making me squeal with fright. Rain poured through the ceiling where half the roof had been ripped off. My clothes were soon sodden. I took a hesitant step forward, my feet crunched over the remains of the shelves.

The floor was littered with broken glass, fallen food stuffs, overturned trolleys and damaged stock. I couldn’t see jack-shit. Using the edge of my tee-shirt I wiped away rain, tears and blood and squinted. All around me, people cried out, some in pain, but more in fear and panic, as they jostled in the darkness trying to reach the eerily glowing green exit signs.

I groped and limped along the aisle. My shin throbbed like crazy and the pain along my jawline felt like someone had taken a knife to my brain.
I hoped I hadn’t lost any teeth.

“Tara! Are you okay?” yelled Alex as he appeared out of the gloom.

“I feel like my head is broken but I guess I’ll live. What the hell happened?”

“Tornado.”

“You’re kidding me?” I shouted. “I need to find my brother and Mum.”

Even though I wasn’t sure whether I liked him or not, I was so thankful to see someone familiar, I had to fight the urge to throw myself onto his chest and bawl my eyes out.

“Your mum’s fine. She sent me to look for you. She’s helping a couple of old codgers out the back exit. They were badly hurt when some shelves landed on them. Is that blood on your face?” he lowered his head to peer at me. His fingers brushed my cheek.

“Probably.” I pushed him away. “Let’s get out of here.”

“You look like you’ve been hit by a bus. Come on, you need medical attention.” His hand closed strongly around my wrist making me feel safe.

How stupid.

With Alex leading, we struggled to the rear of the store. It seemed to take forever as we pushed their way through the debris. Some of the shelves had fallen to the ground, scattering cans and groceries everywhere. We had to climb over the pile, our feet slipping in the dark as we skated over the wet floor. 

My ears rang from the cacophony of noise filling what remained of the building. My head ached and the rain continued to pound down from the sky. A huge tree branch hurtled through the hole in the roof. Alex quickly pulled me out of the way. The wind swept leaves, rubbish, pieces of gyprock and broken roof tiles into the shop and we battled our way forward. What remained of the ceiling rattled and groaned. Thunder rolled menacingly.

I flinched as a crack of lightning sounded frighteningly close and unconsciously edged closer to Alex, seeking reassurance.

What if the tornado swept back on its tracks?

“Almost there Tara. See? The exit’s around this corner,” Alex yelled.

I stumbled again, grabbed hold of his belt and leaned heavily against his side.

Sickness welled up from my stomach. Bright spots whirled in front of my eyes and my head felt funny – kinda light and floating. Blinking, I looked around at the people hurrying to and fro outside, shouting instructions to one another, the emergency vehicles with their blurred, flashing lights just visible through the driving rain. I was vaguely aware Alex now held me upright. Me knees shook, the muscles in my legs appeared to have dissolved into putty. My fringe was plastered flat to my forehead dripping water in my eyes, making it hard to see properly. My clothes felt so heavy they made my feet drag.

It was like a war zone.

The desperate need to lie down slowed my steps.

Alex said something but I couldn’t seem to hear him through the noise inside my head. I stumbled.  

My head spun and the ground rushed up to meet me. I was aware of strong arms lifting me and then the world around me diminished into blackness.

A dazed awareness seeped gradually into my mind.

I lay on my side on the back seat of a car, snug inside a blanket. The car rocked as a heavy gust of wind slammed into its side. My fingers clenched over the edges of the blanket and I bit back a groan. Every jolt and bump seemed to accentuate the throbbing of my body. I knew we were headed for the hospital but never had a journey lasted a lifetime.

Our tiny hospital was little more than a well-equipped medical and birthing centre situated inside a renovated store building as old as the township itself. Serious cases were either airlifted by chopper or the Flying Doctor Service to larger hospitals, depending on the type of emergency.

The centre would be swamped after this storm. Especially as the weather would be too dangerous to attempt a flight out of here.

My head felt like someone had taken an axe to it. Dizziness swamped me and I fought the surging nausea raging in my belly. The sickness ebbed leaving me limp and hot and the low murmuring of voices finally penetrated the roar inside my head.

“Have you narrowed down your list?”

I recognised the voice. Alex’s father was in the car with us.

“Yeah, it’s her.” Alex didn’t sound particularly pleased about whatever he’d found.

“You sound very certain.”

“I am.”

“Good. I’ll proceed with the mother.”

I heard movement and lifted my head. Bob Garroway had reached out and placed his right hand on the top of Alex’s head. He held it steady for a while. Removing his hand, he gave a satisfied grunt.

Weird.

But maybe this was all a horrible dream.

“You’re attracted to her. This will make your job easier.”

Who’s her?