Chapter 23
The siege
He pushes his hand on his arms, but blood is flowing down through his fingers. He gnashes his teeth and his eyes are closed. I measure their situation from the edge of the table to go to Jonadin’s help. He opens his eyes and gives me a thumbs up. His face is white and his brow is dripping sweat.
Detain them!
I see the reds who are closing to us momentarily. They take steps cautiously and look around with every little sound. I gulp my saliva and shoot at them aimlessly. I leave a long interval between my shoots to detain them more.
Jonadin has brought out a cloth from his knapsack and is busy with tying it around his arm with the help his teeth, to prevent bleeding. I continue shooting until I hear a weak sound instead of gunfire.
Now, the color has turned back to Jonadin’s face and he got a grip on himself. He takes his gun off the ground and fires at them aimlessly. All of a sudden the bump sound against the walls and doors attracts those four soldiers’ attention, like the peal of the town bells. They return quickly and look at two people who have entered through two different doors. Parkad and Kidaton, holding their guns in hand, are standing there and each one aimed at two of them. Parkad, while frowned, says to Baltin:
Get off my people’s back.
They shot at us causeless. We don’t care what you do! Live and let live, of course till then our goals are different.
Parkad and Kidaton ensheate their guns. I hint to Kidaton. I try to attract his attention to Jonadin, but he takes no notice.
Our goals? It’s the ball and here is the field!
Baltin takes some steps toward Parkad.
Vultures are flying everywhere!
So what’re you waiting for?
I’m doing my job, I’m not asking for trouble!
Again, I signal Kidation by my hand to attract his notice. This time I manage. I guide him toward Jonadin with my eyes.
Jonadin is shot.
All eyes turn to Jonadin. Kidaton pushes aside the soldier who is in his way and goes toward Jonadin. Jonadin, while his face is frowned and his hand is on his wound, says:
That ratter was spying here. I should killed him from the first time I suspected him.
Baltin says:
Not ratter! The loyal and dutiful soldier.
He was in our group, before he joins your group. He was a traitor.
All of a sudden, the sound of footsteps and clanging equipment on the stairs is heard. They take steps slowly and orderly. All listen to the echoing sound until six people appear from those two doors which Parkad and Kidaton entered.
The blue group.
Their guns are sheathed. After considering the situation, they take steps calmly toward us. Jonadin takes the chance and says to me:
You should go down and cut the power off. Before you enter the hall, there’s a door on the left. You go down the stairs, find the fuse box and cut the power. Take care that nobody see you.
Then he says, while coughing and groaning:
There…
He puts his hand in his pocket and takes the “fire” out:
When you cut the power then you should get away from here. There’s a ladder which takes you to the fourth floor. Come and take the “fire”. You should get out of here. When you arrived at fourth floor, you should escape by the air.
He pushes the “fire” on the floor toward me. Then I take it off and while I look at it and Jonadin intermittently, say in wonder:
What!? Me? What should I do?
I look behind may I find his addressee, but there is no one but me. When Jonadin sees my astonishment, while he wrinkles his face, says:
Don’t be stupid. You should get out of here before we lose time. You’re our only hope.
I put the “fire” into my raincoat pocket and fasten its zip. While other are talking to each other, I creep toward the door slowly. No one notices me. I drag myself on the ground until I reach at a distance of two steps from the door. Then I get at the half-open door with a little jump. I reach the door on the left side immediately and open it slowly lest someone hears it. Then I go down the stairs.
There is a rather large storeroom that makes me besotted. The cabinets are full of raw foodstuffs. Potato, tomato, onion…the huge refrigerators to preserve meat and dairy products; the pasteurized water. The separate cabinets in which are all kind of spicery and flavors. There are two doors in this room; on one of them is written “Electricity room”, and on the other: “cooling and heating house”. The only ladder, which seems to be the same that Jonadin told me, is near the electricity room.
All kind of smells hang in the air of storeroom, but the waft of spices and flavors arouses the smelling more. Among these smells, an especial musty smell attracts me. I go toward the fuse box which is near the ladder and open its door by pressing a button. As I guessed, the fuses of each section are set beside each other. Kitchen, main lab, rooms, and main hall. After a pause, I switch off all of the fuses, even the fuse of this storeroom. Turning off the all lamps, the sound which was heard from the hall stops.
I don’t waste my time more and go up the ladder. It is a narrow canal upward which I can see the light on top. Many parts of the canal is ruined so that the ladder is not connected to anywhere in the upper parts of the canal. But I reach top of the canal anyway. The canal is destroyed completely exactly on the fourth floor and there is no way to upper parts.
I hold the edge and pull myself up. Then I find myself in an almost large room. This room is a little familiar to me. When I see the hole on the floor, I remember the room. Here is the same sinister place in which we met Nabidak and my foot sank into the hole.
I curse myself why I didn’t ask Jonadin more about the aerial escape. I look around maybe something attracts my attention, but there is nothing relating to this matter. I go slowly to the door, may I see something special. I go out through the door and look at the lower floors from the open space. I see the red group shadows who are wandering and guarding. Some guards, who seem to be more than eight persons, has covered up to the second floor. There is no way to get away. I go back to the room, perforce.
As Jonadin said, there should be a way to get out of this building. I have to search here carefully. I go toward some windows which just their frames are remained. Still the track of Vorarin’s footstep can be seen near the windows.
In front of me there is a wide street which its real form and order is mixed up by the debris of the collapsed buildings. I can’t find anything. Maybe Jonadin meant something else. Maybe I should go down via the pipes or with a rope. To be sure, I get my body out of the window and reach the outer edge of the building. I hold the frame of the window tightly and before I put my weight on my feet, I check the outer edges for their resistance.
A warm wind slightly annoys my face and shakes my clothes. The sun has passed almost half of the sky and has lost his power. I fist my hand more tightly and I bend down as far as I can and look down. There is no pipe or rod for going down.
I overcome by despair and attempt to return that something attracts my notice. A rod like the handlebar is on the wires of the posts which reach the opposite street. It is clear that the rod is shaped to this form by hand.
Now I realize Jonadin’s purpose. I have to glide on the wires. But being the first experience and the height, frighten me. Suddenly I hear a footstep which comes close to this room:
I heard a sound from here. I nose around here and then come back.
His footsteps shows that he comes to this side. There is no way to return anymore. At the same time the soldier enters, I take the rod and put it on the wires. I hold its both ends tightly and release myself.
At the same time I fly away, I hear the red soldier’s shuts who calls his confrere. Because of my speed, the wind has made my eyes wet. The contact of the rod and the wires, makes arcs above my head like the squib. At first, the gradient of the wires is slightly high but it becomes as horizon line gradually and at the end turns to an ascending and upward line. Fortunately, this gradient helps me to stop easily at the end of the way. But in the midway, my eyes meet something horrible which makes me lose my endurance to hold the rod and I am near to fall down. About ten red soldiers are standing in the middle of the street and are waiting for me, who just like a culprit is dragging to the deathsman unwantedly.
The height is considerable and after that I come down, ten guns are aimed at me. Finally I stop on a post without any trouble. I put my feet on the holes of the post and hold its top with my hands tightly. I detain myself may someone comes to help me, but I just exhaust myself. They are still standing at a distance of ten meters from me like the statues, all armed to the teeth. At the same time that I am coming down from the post, one of them who seems to be their front man, approaches me. I release the post at a height of one meter above the ground and land in with a jump. The soldier, gun in hand, stands between me and the other soldiers and says:
Where’s the fire?
I haven’t anything to say and just look at him. He again asks:
I said where’s the fire?
The thing you’re looking for, isn’t with me.
He calls two soldiers with his hand signal.
Search him!
Two soldiers parted from the rest and come to me. One of them grabs my collar and pulls me:
Open your arms, hurry up!
I resist a little but then I open my arms like the wings of an airplane. I am sure they will find it. So I have to do something, but nothing comes to my mind. All of a sudden my eyes meet Vorarin who hid behind a wall in the street on the left hand. To be sure, I peep into the street without I turn my head. He is standing there.
Nabidak is certainly with him. So I should detain the red soldiers a little. I move my hand toward my gun, but I remember that I mislaid it in the laboratory. I damn myself. I have to detain them in other way:
Hey, I said the fire is not with me!
The same soldier again pulls my collar:
Shut up and be quiet or I’ll break your neck!
I said it’s not with me.
Then I push them back and they immediately draw their gun at me and one of them says almost shouting:
Seems you like we stretch you just here on the sands. It’s the same difference to see you dead or alive body, so beware of changing my decision. Now put your knapsack on the ground.
Doing this, they both will depredate my knapsack and they will find the “fire” which is in the pocket of my raincoat. Luckily, for the time being, my knapsack belt has blocked my pocket and they can’t find and bring it out. It seems that Vorarin is not determined to do something; he is steel standing there and just looks. Suddenly one of the soldiers shouts:
Grenade! Lie on the ground!
All the soldiers and me immediately lie on the ground. I put my hands on my head and close my eyes involuntary. All wait for explosion but nothing happens, no terrific sound is heard and no light is seen. I stay more at this position for sure, but again, nothing happens. I look around through my fingers.
I feel I am in a white room. A white mist hung and swallowed everywhere; I can’t see no one. Maybe I am dreaming or I am dead. I rise immediately. I try to cleave the mist to come out of this imagination. I gradually feel pepper in my throat. I feel I am standing in a sauna. My eyes are tearing and shed tears, as if some onions are minced near my eyes.
I become sure that I am not dead but if it goes on this way, I surely will die. I am almost near to fall on the ground that then my hands are pulled and I begin to run. As I take steps involuntary, the mist becomes thin and goes aside like a curtain, as though I get out of the sauna.
Someone held my and pulls me following him. My eyes filled with tears and I can’t see him clearly. I just take steps with him. The rush of fresh air invigorates me a little, but I hardly keep my balance. With this condition, I throw him off balance too. Sometimes he bear my weight and then has to pull me.
I wipe my tears with my sleeve but it doesn’t lessen the irritation of my eyes. The irritation is so much that I wink so fast that my eyes are almost close. I am close to be suffocated of over coughing. If he release my hand I would lost like a child among the crowd. I want to stop moving and bend on my knees but he pulls my hand to I take step with him.
Come on! We haven’t much time. Be patient a little.
His voice is like vorarin’s, but he couldn’t be him. There was no sign of Vorarin until the last second. All of a sudden my hand is released but then my other hand is held quickly. Changing my hand, the path also changes. We turn right and I hear the stranger’s voice who goes on his way.
This time I am not lucky and fall in the ground with the sudden change of direction and my escort also lose his balance, but I don’t know he fell down or not. I try to open my eyes even for a short time, but it is so painful that they open and close spontaneously.
Come on Zairas! Get up, we should get away from here soon.
Now I recognize the voice. He is Vorarin. I gather all of my power in my feet, put my hands on the ground, and, while he looped his hands around my waist, I stand on my feet.
Yeah, that’s it... get up.
While I am rising, suddenly I lose my balance but I manage to keep my balance with my hand and his help. I stand on my feet slightly bended.
Just come with me quickly. Hurry up. We haven’t time anymore.
Then he pulls me severely. I follow him winking. My throat stings so much that I can’t say anything; I just cough nonstop.
Faster Zairas! Come on! We should get away from here soon. Come, come.
But I can’t. My head aches so much that my muscles become loose and I fall on the ground again. My feet are exhausted and I just creep on the ground. Vorarin tries to lift me up.
Get up now. Get up, come on Zairas, get up...
When he sees my indifference, he remains immobile for a while. Then he says agitated:
Get up! Get up! We should hide out. They’re coming here. Come on Zairas. Get up. Get up!
Again, he loops his hand around my waist and lift me up in force. I hardly hold myself on my feet. Then we enter a building on the left side. I keep my balance with the help of the wall and we hide behind a burnt wooden commode in a dark room. He covers my mouth with his hand tightly and says panicky:
Hush! Be quiet! They’re somewhere around here. Don’t move!
I bend my legs to have more control on them. My eyes sting reduced, yet I can’t keep open my eyes even for a short time. I ensure Vorarin and he takes his hand off my mouth after a pause. Although my mouth is closed, I cough nonstop.
Hush! I hear their footsteps. They’re coming here.
Then he pauses briefly:
What should we do now?
I bethink myself of the “fire”. So I bring it out of my pocket and hold it toward him. Then I say between my coughs:
Ta..ke it..you…sho..uld take…It…away…fr…om here. I...can’t…co…me…with…you. the…y are…loo…king for…me. You…can…
No, I don’t know where I should go.
I say persistently:
The…y don’t…know…the fire…is…with…you. Yo…u should…get…it out of…here as…soon as…possi…ble. Hurry…up! What…are you…wai…ting for? Take…it…
He pauses for a while and then he takes it from me:
Stay here we’ll come for you.
I ensure him with shaking my head. Then he gives me a gun and says:
Just God grants they don’t see me. Now, they’re everywhere.
He enters the corridor we came here through it and moves forward cautiously. The sound of his footsteps on the debris is heard and then, after a while I can’t hear his footstep anymore.