I don't think there's any shame in admitting that as I fell into space I lost all control of my bodily functions and shat myself. As I reached the full extent of the rope's length it snapped tight and dug hard into my windpipe.
I heard a sharp crack and knew that I was dead.
The brain takes a fairly long time to die once deprived of oxygen. I remember Bates telling us once that during the French Revolution the severed heads of guillotine victims could blink on command for up to four minutes after the chop. I wonder what they were thinking, how conscious they were of their situation. Were they screaming silently or were their final, bodiless minutes strangely serene?
As I swung there, knowing that my neck had snapped and that I was beginning the irreversible process of brain death, my vision swam and my lungs cried out for breath that I couldn't force into them. I didn't feel serene at all. I wanted to kick and fight and bite and scream my way out of the noose. But my hands were tied and my feet kicked helplessly at thin air. All I could see was the sky rotating above me.
I've no idea how long I hung there, it felt like a lifetime. Eventually, just as my vision was starting to fade and the roaring in my ears reached the pitch of a jet plane taking off, I felt someone grab my feet and push upwards. The pressure on my windpipe briefly abated and I gasped down the tiniest of breaths before the grip loosened and I swung free once more.
Then my weight was taken again, but this time it felt like I was standing on someone's shoulders. I was pushed upwards until I flopped onto the wooden platform like a landed fish. I felt hands loosening the noose and I breathed deep. Before I had time to get my bearings, while my hearing and vision were still blurred and faded, I was pulled to my feet and two people took my weight. I staggered between them, powerless to control where I was being led.
My senses began to re-establish themselves as we hurried down off the scaffold and across grass, around the side of the main building and away from the market. I could hear screams and gunshots. After a short run we stopped and my two rescuers started arguing.
'Where?' Petts.
'Um…' Williams.
'Quickly! We won't get far with him like this.'
'Okay, inside.'
'Are you fucking nuts?'
'Inside!'
They dragged me through a side door into the main building and then up three flights of stairs. When we finally stopped we were inside a tiny attic room, probably an old servants' quarters. A small window looked down onto the square below. There was a bed in the corner and my two schoolmates dropped me onto it. Williams closed the door and pushed a chest of drawers across it before slumping onto the floor.
'Who are they?' asked Petts.
'How the fuck should I know?' shouted Williams, on the edge of hysteria.
Resting on the bed I felt the adrenalin surging through me. I was shaking like a leaf but I could breathe!
'My… my neck. I heard it break,' I gasped. 'Why am I still alive?'
'If your neck was broken you'd be dead. Your neck's fine,' said Petts. 'I mean, you've got a hell of a bruise, and rope burns and shit, but no broken bones.'
'But I heard it! I heard it break!' I protested.
'That wasn't your neck, that was a gunshot,' said Williams. 'They opened fire the second you dropped.'
I levered myself upright and felt the awful slickness in my pants as I did so.
'Who opened fire?'
'Take a look,' said Petts, gesturing to the window.
I shuffled sideways on the bed and peered down onto the market square. It was a scene of total chaos. The first thing I noticed was Baker, lying next to the lever, half his head missing, sprayed across the gallows platform.
At least that was one less mad bastard to worry about.
The forecourt was still full of people, but they were surrounded by the men I had seen at the back of the crowd. Some of these men carried guns; all brandished what looked like homemade machetes. There were some bodies lying around the place, a few villagers, and two of the attackers.
I could hear sporadic gunfire in the distance.
'They shot Baker just as he pulled the lever, and the crowd panicked,' explained Petts. 'There was a stampede but they were ready for it and they herded everyone back towards the building's entrance. Some of the men had guns and there was a fight, and during the confusion we were able to get to you. But it looks like these new guys, whoever they are, have got things under control now. By the way, Lee, you stink.'
'Yeah, sorry about that.'
At that moment a strange figure appeared, walking down the driveway towards the house. He was tall and lean and dressed in an immaculate three-piece pinstripe suit, complete with stripy tie and bowler hat. He carried an umbrella and his face was daubed with watery brown paint. He was flanked by two huge bodybuilder types, stripped naked and entirely daubed with the same brown stain. Both men carried machine guns.
Obviously an unknown force had stormed the town. I reasoned that one or two of them must have made it over the wire under cover of darkness and hidden a cache of weapons, probably in one of the abandoned houses. Then the main force had arrived one by one, ostensibly for market day, collected the weapons and waited for the appointed time – my execution. The gunshots in the distance indicated that another force had attacked the guard posts once they'd heard the shooting from inside the town. It seemed like a well organised and effective attack. Now here, in his finest suit, came their leader.
Much as I wanted to see what transpired I was conscious that a force of men from Hildenborough was about to storm the school. We couldn't hang around here, we needed to get back and warn them. I turned to Williams.
'When do they attack?'
He looked up at me, wide-eyed. 'What?'
'Look, I know you sold us out to Baker so don't waste my fucking time. Do you know when they are planning to attack?'
Williams stared at me like a rabbit in headlights.
'Williams, listen to me. I don't give a damn about what you've done, all right. I just need…'
'I don't know,' he muttered. 'He didn't tell me.'
'Hang on,' said Petts. 'Are you saying…'
'No time, Petts, not now. Got to get back to school and warn them. Stay here. I'll be back.'
I rose to my feet. My knees felt like jelly but I forced myself to walk to the door. I listened but could hear no-one outside, so I shoved the chest aside and pushed the door ajar. No-one. I edged out into the corridor and worked my way along the rooms until I found one with a wardrobe full of clothes. I stripped my lower half and used a towel to clean myself up as best I could. I put on a clean pair of trousers and went back to the room, where I found Petts beating the living crap out of Williams.
I pulled them apart.
'Leave it Petts. Later!'
He was breathing hard and his fists were raw; Williams' nose was broken and his lip was bloodied. He was terrified.
'Oh God, he's going to crucify me. He's going to crucify me,' was all he could say.
'I fucking hope so!' said Petts. I glared at him and told him to back off. He reluctantly sat on the bed. I knelt down and looked straight into Williams' eyes.
'Nobody is going to crucify anyone, Williams. I give you my word.'
He looked at me for a moment and then nodded.
'Right now I need you to keep it together and help us get out of here without running into any of these guys with the machetes. Can you help us do that?'
He nodded again. 'I know a way,' he said.
'Good man. Right, we're going to try and get out of town as quickly and as quietly as we can, all right?'
Petts and Williams nodded. I sighed. I had just been bloody hanged. Why, oh why, did I have to take the lead
