‘Huntsmen!’ he roared as he raced up the dirt track that led to the cabin. ‘Huntsmen, an army of Huntsmen! We must flee, we must flee now! Huntsmen, an army of Huntsmen!’
William, who was reclining on a rocking chair on the porch, absorbed in his novel, was the first to hear the shaman come barrelling up the track, discerning his cries long before the teenagers were able to even hear that anyone was yelling.
‘Oh shit,’ he muttered, dropping his book and springing up out of the chair, the first familiar hints of adrenalin beginning their electric stirrings in his brain. ‘Zakaria! Njinga!’ he roared, dashing into the cabin. ‘We’ve got trouble, big trouble! Huntsmen, lots of ‘em from the sound of it!’
Njinga and Zakaria were busy chopping vegetables for dinner in the kitchen, and as soon as they heard William’s cries they dropped their knives and hurried out to intercept him.
‘What’s going on?!’ Njinga demanded, almost colliding with William in the corridor.
‘Lightning Bird,’ he answered breathlessly, ‘I heard him running towards us, shouting that there was an army of Huntsmen troops on the way!’
‘No!’ Zakaria roared, balling his hands into rocky fists. ‘How?! How could they have found us?! How could they have gotten past our infrared detectors and our motion sensor cameras without setting off any alarms?!’
‘That doesn’t matter,’ Njinga grunted coolly, her face a mask of grim determination. ‘What matters now is getting outta here with our lives.’
‘There are enough assault rifles for everyone,’ Zakaria muttered. ‘William, you distribute them and get the children into position. I’ll start loading the RPGs and mortars.’
Njinga darted out a swift hand and caught Zakaria’s forearm before he could turn and head off.
‘No,’ she said, her tone firm. ‘We ain’t fightin’ our way outta this. Against an army a’ ‘em, we don’t stand a goddamn chance. We have to run, we have to flee while a window for escape, however small, is still open. Once they surround this cabin it’ll all be over, no matter how much a’ a fight we put up.’
‘She’s right,’ William said. ‘If there really is a small army on the way, there’s no way we’re fighting our way free. They’ll have blocked off the dirt track for sure, so we’re not going to be able to take the trucks.’ He paused momentarily as a flash of inspiration flared up; he had always been able to think fast and act quickly in situations of danger and pressure. ‘We just might stand a chance of getting everyone out of here if we use our animal forms, though. We have to go with Plan E, it’s the only realistic option, and this is the exact sort of scenario we set it out for.’
‘William’s right,’ Njinga said.
‘We can’t take anything but what we absolutely need,’ William continued, ‘only passports, cash, papers and credit cards. We can’t carry guns – well, maybe you can, Zakaria, but—’
‘No, we can take guns. The kids can carry a piece each,’ Njinga interjected. ‘I don’t know why we didn’t think a’ that before. The AKs have shoulder straps, at least, an’ we can put holsters on their belts too, an’ that way each a’ ‘em can carry a handgun or two as well, and hook some grenades, maybe a smoke grenade or two as well.’
‘Sure, sure,’ William said, possessed with a driving urgency of purpose. ‘Hell, if each of ‘em grabs a backpack they can carry a lot more too. Let’s do this, and let’s hurry! I’ll get the documents, cards and money bagged and ready, Zakaria, you grab a couple of guns, grenades and some ammo, and Njinga, you go tell the kids what’s going on and get ‘em ready to run too. We leave in two minutes, no longer. Go!’
‘I only pray that we can make it through the north-eastern gap before the Huntsmen cut us off,’ Zakaria growled.
‘We have to try,’ Njinga said. ‘It’s our only hope. Now no more talk, go, go!’
There was no time to argue or put forward any alternative plans. Escape in their animal forms seemed like the only viable option at this point, so all three raced off in different directions to do what needed to be done.
Njinga sprinted out to the back porch of the cabin where the teenagers were sitting around a table, chatting and playing a card game.
‘Drop the cards,’ she commanded, ‘get your asses up an’ do everything I say, no questions asked, right now!’
‘What—’ Daekwon began, but Njinga darted forward and silenced him with a quick, clipping slap across the back of his head.
‘Dammit Daekwon, I said no questions, dumb-ass! All you need to know is that there’s an army of Huntsmen soldiers closing in on us right the fuck now, an’ we have about two minutes to run, otherwise we all die! Is that clear enough for y’all! Now do what I say! All a’ you, get up, put your shoes on, grab a coat, a change a’ clothes an’ a backpack, an’ fill up a damn water bottle! I don’t know how those scumbags found us but they did, so we have to run now, fuckin’ now!’
When Njinga said this, a rapier thrust of intense guilt impaled Paola; she knew it had to have been her message in the bottle that had led the Huntsmen here. She kept her mouth shut, however, her heart boosting surges of icy blood through her veins as a fluttery feeling of panic scuttling around the region of her diaphragm, and she scrambled to her feet along with the others.
‘Get exactly what I told y’all to get, an’ be back out on the porch here in a minute, not a second longer!’ Njinga yelled.
The urgency in her voice was unmistakable, and the teenagers all understood with terrifying clarity the direness of the situation. They raced off to their rooms and stuffed some clothes into their backpacks, their hearts hammering and their pulses racing, and in less than two minutes all four
