The Wall(54)

After they had taken this quick look around four more pirates joined them and they began a more thorough search. Two of them stood guard over us in the middle of the rafts. They held their rifles pointed directly at us. I read their body language to mean that they thought they would find things; and that when that happened, people would often do something stupid. The other pirates went into every shelter, opened every box, searched every crevice and cranny. It took a long time and while they were doing it we had nothing to do but sit on the floor of the rafts. James started to whisper to me, but the nearest pirate hit him on the shoulder with the butt of his rifle, and the meaning was very clear, so after that we sat in silence. Physical discomfort did nothing to alleviate the fear. I found myself trying to work out not what the pirates would do, because that was obvious: they were going to take everything they wanted. The question I was thinking about instead was, what would they leave? What would we have to help us survive?

The more I thought about it, the more obvious the answer became. The pirates would leave us with nothing. Why would they do anything else? They were people who killed on sight, just to make a point. The benefit to them of leaving us with enough water and food to sustain ourselves was exactly zero. As I was thinking that, two of them came past, carrying the two remaining boxes of supplies from our lifeboat. There was a dummy compartment in the boat with other boxes hidden behind it, which we had tacitly agreed not to tell the community about, not yet anyway. It was our insurance policy and also our guilty little secret. I had been starting to feel ashamed about that, but now it seemed an astute thing to have done. It could be the only food we had left. Enough for what remained of the community for two or three days. Longer, on starvation rations. A week, say. So, not enough. Not by any standards.

I watched the pirates work, systematically stripping the rafts of everything they could carry. There would be rustling and a stifled cry, not from the pirates but from the community, when they came across something precious among people’s personal possessions – a jewelled flask, an empty silver picture frame, a ceremonial dagger. When people murmured or cried out, the guards raised their rifles and the community went quiet again. Once the pirates had taken the valuables, they took the food. All of it. They stacked the drying fish and birds onto two racks and four of them carried them over to their boat and then winched them up the side. There was a moment when I thought it was all going to tip over and be lost and I felt panic at the thought and then realised that was stupid because as far as we were concerned it was all lost anyway. After they had taken the food they took the water. There was enough of it that they called for help, and some of their crewmates who had been standing watching from the bow of their ship came over and joined them in the hard work of stealing our water. That went on for a long time: the catchments were heavy. The pirates cursed and sweated as they carried them across the raft and winched them onto their ship. Dark was beginning to fall by the time they had finished.

When they had taken everything, the pirates came back, this time towards the community where we sat in the middle of the rafts, ten pirates this time, their guns raised, and they barged their way in among us and grabbed the three teenage girls. It happened fast and because it was hard to believe or understand it was also hard to react in time. Hughes, who was standing next to the tallest and oldest of them, stepped in front of them as they dragged her away, and was smashed to the ground by a pirate behind him. He hit Hughes on the back of his head with the stock of his gun. I think Hughes was unconscious before he hit the floor of the rafts. As the pirates pulled the girls away from the group Kellan and Mara ran after them and took hold of the girls, both of them shouting, ‘No, no,’ and the pirate nearest them stepped backwards and swung the rifle to the left, hitting Kellan in the head, and then to the right, hitting Mara too. Both of them fell to their knees. It took a second at most. The pirate then raised his gun and pointed at the rest of us, as if asking, who’s next? No one was next.

They dragged the girls to the far end of the rafts, where their inflatable boat was waiting to take them the fifty or so metres to their ship. All three of the girls were screaming and fighting. The pirates who had been on the rafts started to get on the inflatable, pulling the girls with them; once again, it was so full it looked as if it might tip over. There was a lot of noise from the pirate ship, raised voices, voices in a new tone. I think they were celebrating; some of the voices from the ship sounded drunk, or on the way to drunk.

‘No no no no no,’ said Hifa. I looked at her and realised something: they would have taken her if they had realised she was a woman. But just like the first time I’d seen her, she was wrapped in multiple thick layers of clothing and had her cap pulled down and you could hardly see her face. They hadn’t seen her for who she was. Nausea, and I’m ashamed to say relief, hit me. I can’t remember what I said, but James stepped forwards, his hand inside his clothing, and for the first time during the attack, I remembered his grenade.

‘I have to stop them,’ he said.

I could think of nothing that would stop the pirates except setting off the grenade, which would kill them and anyone near them, including the girls. Then I saw that was what he meant. I could tell Hifa had the same train of thought. We stood looking at each other. Kellan and Mara were hopping and skipping over the rafts towards the pirates, moving, as always, as if they had been born on the water. I remember that clearly: how elegant, even dainty, they were as they danced quickly over the rafts that last time. I remember how at ease they were here in their home on the water. They were calling out ‘stop’ and ‘wait’ and ‘please’. Their voices were frantic, beseeching. The first pirate onto our boat, who had dragged one of the girls away himself, was standing next to the inflatable, still holding her by the arm. He now turned and looked at us. For a second I thought, wait, he’s changing his mind. He handed the girl to another pirate, passed her over like a parcel, and then he took his gun down off his shoulder and pointed it at Kellan and Mara, who were running towards him and the inflatable and the ship.