One Drop by Peter Kalu

Author:Peter Kalu [Kalu, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Andersen Press Ltd
Published: 2022-08-04T00:00:00+00:00

14

The Howling Night

I woke into darkness. Deep night in the camp. An alert was sounding: a shrill whistle that ripped right across the tent zone again and again. Dune stirred too, staring blankly. I shook them and they seemed OK. We went to the tent flaps. Beams of light jumped from Peace Committee tents, raking the dark. They landed on a black-cloaked figure, moving low. The figure stumbled over guy ropes. Tent fronts zipped down to block the figure every time it passed. I glimpsed a beret. Heard the low, ear-popping hum then, from an armed night drone, hanging as low as it had ever been, its malevolent energy radiating, a gun arm dropped and extended.

‘Get the catapult,’ Dune hissed. ‘That’s Pharaoh out there!’

The figure got up on its feet again. Came spinning round. We called out. Waved and waved. In the end it stumbled over and we dragged the figure into our tent.

I could see the drone was close, so they’d know real quick it was us harbouring him. Still.

Dune had called it right. It was Pharaoh, his beret rammed low. We closed the flaps fast.

‘I don’t have time,’ he said. ‘They’ve got me, they finally got me. Axel, take this.’

He shoved a piece of folded paper into my hand.

Suddenly he relaxed, as if he’d stopped by on one of his litter-picking strolls. ‘Tell Elizabeth I always loved her, OK? Say, even to the end.’

A smile of resignation spread across his face.

‘Don’t talk stupid,’ said Dune. ‘We’ll keep them out, Pharaoh.’ Dune had their catapult now, and was loading it, reaching for the tent flaps.

Pharaoh pulled Dune back. ‘That’s not gonna work. It would compromise both of you. Don’t let me down now. Our hopes rest with you. You’re the revolution now. Ax, those are the signal codes I gave you, on a grid. Do your jobs. Keep on. We nearly free. Keep on.’

‘But...’

All the while that Pharaoh was talking, alert after alert had blared. Now the ground was drumming. Scavengers.

‘I gotta step,’ said Pharaoh.

‘No!’ Dune blocked him.

‘Hey, Dune, I love the fight you got, I love everything about you. Both of you. You my kids now. And I’m not losing two sets of kids. Bloods not going to take me alive. My secrets die with me.’ Pharaoh looked at the palms of his hands. ‘You two keep on. That’s a command. Now I’m going to see my boy, my girl. So step aside, in the name of Black Jesus.’

‘No!’

But Pharaoh brushed past Dune and was gone.

Lasers from Peace Committee tents shone, picking out his moving figure.

Peace Committee collaborators. Fuckers.

The night drone’s search beam switched on and picked him up. We watched, helplessly. Pharaoh was up fully now and running. 1U. 70. 1609. Running for the fence. Into the fence. There was a blue flash as he hit the chain link. Little bursts of yellow silhouetted him. A small explosion, head height. Then Scavengers were pulling at his charred body.

‘Jeez,’ said Dune. ‘What the fuck.’

I hugged Dune close to me, closing my arms round their waist.

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