Page 3

But being a fighter also meant you were first in line for a bullet in the gut, and, if the rumours and whispers of casualties were anything to go by, that wouldn’t take any time at all.

The shelling had abated by the time I’d arrived at the bus station. A huge fire burned towards the stadium, big enough to cast a reddish glow on the clouds overhead. A few hundred people were gathered under the station’s roof, watching the fire, not speaking. They looked as though they’d been waiting since the beginning of time. They were all sorts, civilians, militiamen, and a small contingent of soldiers sitting on the row of bucket seats by the wall. I felt like an intruder among them.

I heard my name called. It was my old friend G, whom I hadn’t seen in weeks. "So you’re here," he said.

"Yes." I peered at him. "I’m glad to see you’re alive."

He laughed without humour, his white beard outlining his emaciated face. "That’s an achievement these days, isn’t it? Something to congratulate ourselves about."

"Where’s Allika?" I asked, looking for his wife. "Is she all right?"

"She’s at home," he said. "She’s OK, but, you know...weak." He didn’t need to tell me the cause of the weakness; we all had the same problem. "If you can’t get back tonight, you ought to come back home and spend the night with us. It’s much closer for you, isn’t it?"

"I probably will have to." I noticed he was carrying a gun, a huge black holster on his hip. It was the first time I’d seen G, a pacifist of the old school, with a weapon of any kind. "Where did you get that?"

He shrugged. "I’ve had it for years, but never found a need to carry it before. You know, the way things are going..."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." I told him about my encounter with the children. "Are things really as bad as that?"

G shook his head. "Nobody knows anything, except maybe the commanders. At least, if the convoy gets through tonight, we might have some news. Along with the food and medicines, of course."

"Do you think it’ll actually get through?" I asked.

"Probably not. I’ve not heard anything about them being willing to make any exemptions for the siege." He indicated the backpack. "Are you thinking of leaving us?"

"Do you think I should?"

"If you could, of course you should go." G looked quickly over his shoulder to make sure we weren’t overheard. "I’d go myself if I could, and if Allika could make the journey. But I can tell you already that it won’t be possible."

 I’d expected that, but it still struck me like a blow in the midsection. "Why do you say that?"

"We tried to leave with the last convoy, the one two weeks ago." G leaned towards me, lowering his voice to a murmur. "You know the one."

"I know." The whole city had been waiting for that convoy for days, eagerly, anticipating the food and medicines and other essentials it would be bringing. It was supposed to arrive during the day, and the other side had agreed to a 24 hour ceasefire to let it through. It had actually slipped into the city in the dead of night, unloaded its cargo quickly and surreptitiously, and left again long before dawn; what happened to all that it had brought, nobody seemed to be able to tell. "What happened?"

"I spoke to one of the drivers. He said they were under strict orders to take nobody, not even the sick or the pregnant or nursing women. And he said the lorries were searched at the other side’s checkpoints. They threatened to shoot any passengers, and the drivers as well."

"So that’s that." I watched the light of a tracer shall float overhead with deceptive slowness before crashing into the city on the other side of the stadium. "It seems to be starting again."

"Yes." G glanced again over his shoulder at the soldiers. "I heard talk that the enemy is getting ready to invade directly – start a street to street battle for the city. If that happens, well..."

[ Continue to page 4 ]