A Collection of Short Stories

Fleeing

It was dark, the night sky lit up with the flashes of explosions and guns. The usually quiet night was split by the screams of men, women and children, and gunfire. Chaos reigned, people fleeing for their lives before the soldiers, bodies splayed in awkward positions, fires igniting through the wooden houses.

Through it all, Adam cowered with his family, hidden under a truck, watching as others fled and were shot down. It was a massacre out there: he knew that the soldiers would not allow anyone to escape. Any one who tried to would be hunted down and killed. But the same would apply to any one who stayed and try to hide.

His mother was trying to comfort his two younger sisters, while crying herself. Carol had her eyes squeezed tight, clutching her ragged teddy doll with her still plump three-year-old hands. She wasn't old enough to understand what was going on, but smart enough to realise they were in danger.

Sophie was sobbing softly to herself, her face pressed against her mothers chest. She was eight, five years younger than Adam himself, and terrified out of her wits. Adam probably would have been himself if he wasn't too busy trying to think of a way to get out of the situation they found themselves in.

He was the man of the family, having been so for the five minutes since he saw his father shot trying to help another family hide. But he didn't have time to grieve as he was still in danger, as was his remaining family.

The soldiers had dogs with them, he could hear them howling, so if they were to escape, they had to cross water. There was a beach nearby, that would easily erase their scent. And as he thought about it, he recalled his adventures around the beach, how he'd found a cave just up the rocks. If they could make it there, they'd be able to hide and it was unlikely the soldiers would be able to find them, especially in the dark.

He wriggled closer to his mother, pressing his mouth against her ear.

"I know a place we can hide," he breathed.

She glanced at him, tears running silently down her face, fear obvious in her eyes. But he also saw hope and a determination to protect her children.

"Show us," she said.

He nodded, told his mother to stay, then wriggled out from under the truck. Their house was nearby and he had to pick up some stuff before they could go.

Keeping to the shadows, he made it to the house without incident, keeping a wary look out for soldiers. There were people racing past, but they didn't seem to notice him as he ducked inside and raced to the bedrooms. Grabbing a bag, he stuffed a couple of dark jumpers inside, along with some blankets.

Slinging it on his back, he went to go outside to the shed, when he paused, heart in his mouth as he heard a footstep. Flattening himself immediately behind a lounge chair, he waited for what seemed like years as someone paced around outside, right past where he was lying. They weren't very good at hide-and-seek though as they didn't come into the house and soon passed on.

Adam waited until his pulse had settled down before getting up and racing to the shed. Gunshots still split the air, but they seemed far away, as did the screaming and sounds of combat. Without a light, it was hard to make his way around, but he was able to locate the tarp quickly, a sheet of dark material big enough to cover a car.

Clutching it in his arms, Adam hurried back to the truck where his family remained hidden, his sisters held in their mothers arms. She started when he popped back under, but relief quickly replaced the fear.

"We have to go," he said urgently.

He could hear the gunshots becoming less frequent, showing that the soldiers were finding less people to fire at. Then they'd start hunting for survivors.