Wastelands: A Broken World

CHAPTER 39: OWLS IN THE MOSS

Up above us, the craft hung in the air, so vast, so monstrously mammoth that it seemed to defy every possible law of engineering as to how it could get off the ground in the first place, let alone remain still and unmoving in the skies. It seemed so close to the tops of some of the buildings, that I was sure that you could reach a hand out of a window and touch it, not that I would have ever wanted to. There was something about the structure of the craft that I found deeply sickening.

From here, the entire base seemed to be made of a mass of black stalactite formations of varied shapes and sizes. There appeared to be no uniformity to it, and although I was certain it must be a metal of some kind, it had the appearance of slick, oil-drenched rock and it was that slickness which nauseated me to the core, because it reminded me of their skin – smooth and yet with a greasy sheen to it that turned my stomach. If I hadn't known it was one of their ships, I might, at first glance, thought it to be some kind of mutated cellular being, a monster with slick flesh, breathing in and out above us.

I turned my thoughts away from the possibility that the craft could sense us down here and was waiting to reach down and absorb us into its flesh, and focused on the building ahead, which appeared only slightly less ominous than the ship.

Checking that the area was clear, I darted forwards, skirting along the edge of the building, past the blown-out windows, treading carefully so not to crunch down on any shattered glass. Across the street, the lawn area was now bomb-scarred, and I could see Tom with Jace and Gav, moving covertly through the mass of twisted, burnt trees that had been felled during the war. Behind them, I could see Levi and Taj, Lena and the others moving past the ruins of Westminster Abbey, the gothic towers all but destroyed, leaving barely a charred skeleton behind.

The plan was for one group to take the right-hand side, the other, the left, both avoiding the main entrances on the curved front of the building, where the elobrately carved baroque-style stone angels looked down upon all those who would dare to enter. Once inside, a small group would venture down to the basement to set the round of explosives we'd stolen from the raid on the Saudi Embassy, leaving the rest of us to head up to the Grand Hall to free however many captives were held there before the timers went off.

Moving deftly towards the nearest corner of the Queen Elizabeth II building, I glanced over to see Tom staring in my direction, his eyes wide. He appeared frantic, and next to him, Jace and Gav had frozen still, pressing themselves into the fallen trees as best they could. Something was horribly wrong. Even from here, I could sense it. With one quick motion of his hand, Tom pointed somewhere out of our line of sight and gestured for us to stop and go low, and I abruptly pulled Abby down behind the wall, just in time to spot a Grey appear from the direction of Storey's Gate.

With our backs pushed into the wall, crouched tight into our hiding space, I had no idea where the Grey had gone or how close it was to where we were concealed. From here, we couldn't see a damn thing. Inside my chest, my heart was beating hard and I clamped my mouth shut to suppress the shallow breaths I knew were bursting to break free.

When I heard the click-click-clicking of its throat and the low, strange cat-like purr that came with it, I knew it was close – too close. Altering my grip on the rifle slowly, carefully, I prepared for the inevitable shot, knowing that we were probably going to have to engage, no doubt throwing the whole mission into jeopardy if we did. Where one Grey wandered, there was always more of them close behind and we had been stupid to think we could make it this far without encountering any on our journey. As if my thoughts had given rise to reality, there came the unmistakable sound of another Grey answering the first, it's throat-click a little farther away.

The wait was agonising.

Seconds stretched. Tension thinned out to the narrowest of threads. And the incessant pounding of my heart just kept going.