Let's Start A Riot

Chapter Six - A Click

We move as a synchronised unit, walking in complete silence – well, they all are, whereas I'm slightly more on the noisy side – and we only stop when Marcus holds up a closed fist, listening for any movement that isn't us. We head into the woods to the east of the bunkers and stick close together, taking cover in the gloom of the trees in the early morning light.

We hear movement to the west once, and we take cover lying behind a fallen tree for five minutes, hiding ourselves from anyone who could come from that direction, or most directions for that matter unless they are within ten feet of us and looking down. We barely dare to breathe, and the noise eventually fades away. We get up and keep moving with Marcus leading us further east until in the distance I can see a field enclosed by high barbed-wire fencing running all the way up the hill on the other side.

The land mines.

We creep to the edge of the woods, where we stop behind some bushes and Marcus turns to us, "The fact that we haven't encountered another soul on the way here apart from whoever was making that noise in the woods has confirmed to me that this indeed, is no training exercise. We're moving into dangerous territory; we're going to be exposed in the open with explosives all around us. One wrong step and we possibly cause the entire field to erupt, and we all die. If anyone sees us and starts shooting, we're probably all dead." He deadpans, making eye contact with me when he says this. "So, we move quickly but cautiously, only step where the person in front of you steps. I memorised where the mines are when we last came through the field as I'm sure you did too, is everyone ready?"

We all nod, a pit of nerves mangling with my organs. Marcus stands up from his crouch and walks into the field of land mines without hesitation, and we move courageously to follow – well apart from me, I'm shitting my pants but I have no other option than to follow them into this field filled with explosives.

I don't look up, staring intensely at Sarah's feet, making sure to step exactly where she does. We manage to make it about a quarter of the way across without any mishaps, with what feels like another hundred miles to go to get to the other side. We have to leap to spots of green grass, which indicates that the corrosion of rusting metal hasn't killed the grass, meaning there are no land mines close enough to step on as these mines are left over from the World War almost eighty years previously. I almost over balance after a big jump, but I imagine myself back in the gymnasium on the balancing beam, and with a calming deep breath, I regain control of my wobbly limbs. It is going well; we haven't been shot at, no land mines have blown up, no one is dead.

But when do things ever go to plan?

We only just reach the halfway point when something decides to go horribly wrong, typically. Marcus makes the jump to cross over a spot where I presume that there is a land mine, but suddenly holds up a hand to stop before he takes another step on the perfectly good-looking grass, but he makes the gesture too late. Sarah has already begun to make the jump before she has a chance to see his hand, and she slams into him as she lands, making him stumble forward onto the fresh grass and freeze.

A click.

It rings loud in the silence of the quiet morning, snapping us all to attention.

"No one move." Marcus breathes out.

We all stare at him in disbelief. Under his foot in that luscious green grass, is a shiny metal plate – a land mine, a new one.

"Hugo, get over here." Marcus says quietly, adding, "Carefully."

Hugo and I carefully swap places, and Hugo steps across the gap to where Sarah is standing a little away from Marcus. Sarah looks pale, a bead of sweat rolling down her temple.