CHAPTER TEN
I stayed in the burrow for the remainder of that night, not daring to move until daylight, and certainty that they had indeed left the woods. I could see that they had tried to fill in the entrance as best they could, the ground was too frozen to dig the earth, so instead they had stuffed as many loose branches and clumps of frosty foliage into the gap. I would have no trouble making my escape, when the time came.
When dawn arrived I was still hesitant to move in case this was a trap, but I reasoned that they had me right there, they didn’t need to trap or trick me. Glasses and the others believed he’d shot me, he fired of several shots after those first two, just to be sure. No, he believed he had completed his mission.
Question was, what would I do now? They weren’t after me any more, and while it was very tempting to return to my life before going on the run, I was still concerned that they might pick me up somehow, even if they weren’t actively looking for me. All it took was for one of these guys to see my face on some CCTV footage to realise their mistake. And they wouldn’t make it twice.
No, I needed to remain under the radar, at least for the time being, though possibly for a much longer time. Perhaps now I could go and live in another town though, somewhere quiet, far from here. I could use a new name, start afresh. I wanted to live without having to keep looking over my shoulder, but I also missed my creature comforts. I wanted to live under a roof, have a kettle, clean clothes that didn’t smell of rain.
I shoved the obstacles out of my way and clambered out of the burrow. This time I was leaving it for good. I glanced around me for a moment, saying goodbye to a wilderness that had saved my life, and I got on my way.
As I walked I planned what I should do next. First thing would be to conceal my rabbit coat in the rucksack before reaching the housing estate. Some may find that socially unacceptable mind you, the rest of me probably wasn’t looking too attractive either.
On reaching the line of houses, I spotted a laden washing line and quickly yanked a sweatshirt and a pair of jogging trousers from it before running around the corner, waiting for shouts, but none came. This estate was in the suburbs, one of several built primarily with single people in mind; small one bedroom flats, they would be mainly occupied by people who were working in the city, assuming it was midweek, these houses would mostly be empty now. I looked along the row, and saw that most had empty driveways. I chose the one at the end as it was least overlooked by the others and walked confidently into the back garden. I approached the back door, and could see through the double-glazed patio door that nobody was home. Perfect. It was still early so I had all day, or at least until lunch time if this person happened to come home for their lunch. Still, plenty of time for what I needed to do.
The bath was piled high with bubbles, I had every scent available sluicing around in the tub, I sank into it and sighed deeply. I never imagined I would miss bathing this much. Once washed I tackled my beard and hair, trimming both until I felt they were neat.
Reluctantly I climbed out of the bath and put on my new clothes, the sizing was perfect. I would dump my old clothes in a bin somewhere, though I placed the rabbit coat into my rucksack, for me it was symbolic of my journey so far, I was proud of what I had achieved over these last few months.
Once clean and cropped, I understood what the saying ‘feeling like a new man’ meant. Now all I needed was a new name. I searched through drawers and folders until I found what I needed, several items of identification.
These would do very nicely, thank you. My name was now Kevin Hall. I wasn’t sure I looked much like a Kevin Hall, but it didn’t really matter. All I needed to do was use one of these pieces of ID to gain access to more. I already had details of the real Kevin Hall’s bank account, I had a flying head start. I would do well to change my identity every so often though, in case someone started zoning in on me.
I cleaned up the bathroom so Kevin wouldn’t immediately know someone had been there, and I wiped everywhere of my finger prints. Wouldn’t do for a dead man to flag up as a prime suspect.
Once ready I set off out the back door and down the drive. Pity Kevin didn’t leave his car behind too, I thought boldly. Instead I jumped on the next best thing, a bicycle leaning against the garden shed. I pedalled in the direction of my new life, where I would get myself together, organise and plan. I would make damn sure they couldn’t pin me down again, and I was never, ever, going to let them win. There was so much to be done and no time to lose. Our freedoms are being ripped from us daily.
The struggle for a free Internet and for the liberation of public interest information, would go on.
THE END
~~oo00oo~~
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