The Midnight Cleaning Company

Chapter 34

Two forces, dressed in similar attire, both with forward momentum and the battle fury raging in their veins, were spurred on by their success. Blinded by the rain, acrid black smoke, and unaware that their supposed enemy was already crushed in the muddy puddles beneath their feet, both sides pressed on. In their hurry to slaughter the young men and women who had been their comrades, they had no idea which of their former friends might still be their ally.

I completed my circumvention of the car-park. The black smoke from the car fires blended into the ink-black of the rain clouds in the night sky. The massacre within the smog was invisible to me now but I could still hear the shouts of pain and rage. The orange glow of burning cars temporarily illuminated struggling silhouettes in my peripheral vision. I could not help but imagine the details obscured from me.

I reached the garden centre building. I decided that the visual barrier between the Rogues and myself was a sign that their world was behind me and it was time to ascend to my new life.

I turned away to face the pebble-dash wall of garden centre. Above me I could make out the shape of Vincent. He was struggling to climb a drainpipe. His slow progress up the sheer wall told me he had started his climb the moment the battle had begun. I was determined to beat him to the top. I would not be left behind in the mud, smoke and murder that I had endured for a century, while my diluted comrade joins our new peers. 

I scanned the front of the building. A delivery van was parked in front of a glass canopy over the entrance. The driver himself was slumped exsanguinated at the wheel. I leapt onto the roof of the van in a single bound and threw myself forward, soaring up onto the glass canopy.

Vincent heard the thud of my boots on the glass and turned to look down. I charged across the fragile roof towards the wall. My boots kicked an avalanche of pebbles free as I ran several vertical steps before launching myself upwards and digging my fingernails into the wall.

Vincent Looked down in shock at how rapidly I had covered half of the distance he had struggled to achieve and desperately increased his pace. His arms and legs wrapped around the drain pipe like a sloth on a branch, he dragged himself up on his stomach.

The wall was slick from the soaking rain. If I paused for an instant to secure my hold on the wall my momentum would dissipate and I would lose my tenuous grip. I dared not look down, just concentrated on the speed of my climb. The sound of grunting and the squeal of skin sliding on wet plastic told me I was level with Vincent, and the cheers and laughter of the Elders let me know I was close to the top. My bloodied fingers finally grasped the ledge of the roof. I hauled myself up and bounded to my feet.

Standing face to face with the crowd of Elders, I instantly forgot the pain in my arms and hands. Their silence and brief hesitation stabbed fresh doubt into my mind, but it dissipated as soon as the Elders greeted me with silent nods of respect. A huge undignified grin ripped across my lips. I reached back to where Vincent was struggling to finish his climb and held out my hand. He stretched up to grasp my wrist. His exhausted body dangled limply as I hoisted him with one arm onto the rooftop.

The Elders spread out a few steps to create a space for us both under their canopy of umbrellas. As soon as we had joined them, standing shoulder to shoulder, the cheering and laughter resumed. Vincent and I however did not join in with the revelry, for we could now clearly see the slaughter below.

My first thoughts were of Andre and Killer-Bee. I scanned the scene below. My heart pounded with concern for their safety, but when I did not recognise them in the carnage, I felt myself relax. I realised I was glad that they had not survived the massacre, for they would never learn of my betrayal. They could die fighting for a cause that they believed in, rather than live to serve the enemies who had inflicted this upon them.