The Perimeter

by Shalini Boland

  These intruders had somehow gotten onto their land, past the fence and through the back door. Liss’s mum had been right – they should have left the harvest to wither and rot. They should have never come back. And now it was too late.

  ‘What are you doing in our house?’ Liss’s dad was furious. ‘This is private property. You’re trespassing.’

  ‘This land belongs to the church now,’ one of the soldiers replied. Their faces were all concealed behind overhanging hoods, giving them the illusion of being ethereal beings. But Liss knew they were very real flesh and blood men. She wanted to struggle against her captor who had hold of her arm, but she was paralysed by fear, locking eyes with Annabelle, who looked more defeated than scared.

  ‘We were sent by The Voice of the Father,’ the soldier said. ‘You are to surrender your house and lands and come willingly to serve him.’

  ‘And if we refuse?’ Liss’s dad asked.

  ‘If you refuse you will be taken anyway, or put to the sword as heretics.’

  ‘Where is he?’ Liss’s mum sobbed. ‘Where’s my son? Where’s FJ? He’s not the Voice of anything, he’s my boy. If I could talk to him, make him remember who he really is . . .’

  ‘Quiet,’ the soldier said, shoving her in front of him.

  ‘Leave her alone,’ Liss’s dad said. ‘Don’t push my wife like that.’ He made a grab for the soldier who had hold of Jessie. Liss watched in horror as the soldier reached back and side-swiped her dad across the face, knocking him to the floor. His head cracked hard on the tiles. Liss gave a short scream, but the soldiers did nothing. They left her dad on the floor and tried to bundle the three of them out through the door.

  ‘Dad!’ she yelled. ‘Dad, are you alright?’ But he lay unmoving. Liss gave a sob. What if he was dead? She, Annabelle and her mum were shoved out through the back door, which now hung grotesquely off one hinge, like a half-pulled tooth. Outside, dusk was already dissolving into night.

  ‘Let them go.’

  Liss turned her head. Standing in the doorway was her dad, pointing his shotgun at them. Alive, if a little woozy looking.

  ‘Put it down,’ one of the soldiers said to him. ‘Or you’ll all die.’

  ‘Better that than to go with you,’ her dad replied. ‘Let go of them or I’ll start shooting and I don’t think FJ would want that.’

  No one did or said anything for a moment, and then the guards finally released their grip.

  ‘Run!’ her dad yelled at them. ‘Run! Now! I’ll hold them off. You know where to go!’

  Liss turned and fled toward the darkness of the fields. She felt Annabelle beside her; felt her hand slip into her own. Where was her mum? Should she stop to check? But Annabelle was pulling her onwards, the thump of their footfalls and their ragged breaths loud in her ears. Scuffles and shouts from behind. Then a gunshot filled up the night, ringing through the blackness and instilling a wild terror in her heart.

  She glanced over her shoulder and saw her mum coming towards them out of the darkness. Thank goodness. But no – her mum’s face registered shock. She stumbled and fell down onto her knees. Liss stopped dead, letting go of Annabelle’s hand.

  ‘Mum!’ she screamed.

  ‘Keep going, don’t stop,’ her mum cried. ‘Annabelle, make Lissy go with you.’

  ‘Come on, Liss,’ Annabelle hissed. ‘We have to keep moving.’

  ‘No! Mum!’

  ‘Please,’ her mum said. ‘I want you to go. Don’t break my heart, Lissy.’

  Her mum’s eyes closed and she collapsed onto her side.

  ‘No!’ Liss moaned. But another shot tore through the air. She felt Annabelle’s hands on her arm and on her back. She tried to shake her off.

  ‘Come on,’ the younger girl said.

  ‘I can’t leave my parents. ’

  Annabelle tugged at Liss’s arm. ‘You have to.’

  ‘No,’ Liss’s voice rose to a shrill screech.

  ‘Please,’ Annabelle said. ‘I can’t go back to The Close. I can’t.’

  ‘I can’t leave mum and dad.’

  ‘FJ will kill us if we go back now. Your parents want you to escape. They both told us to run. Do it for them.’

  Liss shook her head, but she let Annabelle lead her away across the fields. She ran as if in a dream, tears streaming down her cheeks. They squeezed through a high hedge and then ran some more until their lungs felt fit to burst. They heard the soldiers’ cries and footfalls in the distance, but it was night and the dim lights of the robed men’s torches were ineffective in the vast darkness. No further shots were fired. Perhaps her brother didn’t want her and Annabelle harmed, despite what the soldiers had said.

  But what about her mum and dad? Were they dead already? Had the guards found her mum’s body lying in the grass? Had her father escaped? All these thoughts tore her up as they staggered through the black night. Should she go back for her parents? But what good would it do? She had to protect Annabelle now. They would hide and then they would rescue her parents when they had a plan. She would kill FJ if she had to. He was no longer her brother. Grey had fashioned him into an unrecognisable monster.

  Liss knew where they should go. She led Annabelle toward the tunnel they used for getting in and out of the farm. It was concealed behind a dense clump of bushes and was hard to find in the darkness. Her hands tore at grass and brambles before finally locating the wooden board which served as an entrance hatch. They crept down, under the ground, into the cold, dark passageway and waited.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Riley

  Pa and I stood as Liss and Annabelle entered the kitchen, awkward and uncomfortable, wearing the clothes I’d laid out for them, hair damp from their showers.

  ‘Come and sit down, ‘Ma said, ladling out a couple of bowls of porridge. ‘You girls need some nice warm food. You look half starved.’ Ma was right. They were nothing but skin and bones. The fact they were wearing my clothes highlighted this: baggy and rolled up at the cuffs and trouser bottoms, they hung off them like children wearing adults’ clothes.

  Annabelle and Liss sat hesitantly at the table. They seemed eager to eat, but the porridge was blisteringly hot and they could only manage tiny amounts off the tip of their spoons.

  ‘Are you feeling any better?’ Pa asked.

  The girls nodded.

  ‘Where are your parents?’ he asked Liss.

  Liss stopped eating, but continued to stare at her porridge. After a heartbeat of silence she spoke: ‘They’re dead.’

  ‘What?’ I sat down heavily on one of the kitchen chairs. ‘No. I don’t believe it. What happened?’

  Liss continued to stare down at her bowl, dry-eyed.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Liss,’ I said, thinking of Fred and Jessie and how happy they had been to get their daughter back after so many years. To think they were now dead and unable to live the kind of family life they’d been dreaming of was awful.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Pa said.

  ‘I’m sorry too,’ Ma said. ‘That’s terrible. You poor things.’

  ‘What happened?’ I asked Liss. ‘Are you okay to talk about it?’

  ‘It was a while ago,’ she said. ‘Grey’s men came to the farm.’

  ‘You stayed on at the farm?’ Pa said. ‘But you were told how dangerous it was to carry on living there.’

  ‘No,’ Liss said. ‘We were only there to finish off the harvest. We’d moved to the compound. We’ve got a house there.’ Liss stopped eating and went on to tell us exactly what had happened. How her mum had been shot and how she and Annabelle had hidden in a tunnel.

  ‘I was sure they’d find us,’ she said, ‘but they never did. We waited down there for hours. We were too scared to come out.’

  ‘I don’t blame you,’ Ma said.

  ‘We waited till the next day. By then, the soldiers had gone, so we crept back to the farmhouse. Mum and dad were in the kitchen. Dead.’

  ‘Liss, I am so sorry.’ I put my arms around her small frame, but she s
tayed unmoving, her arms wrapped around her body. I was pretty sure she was still in shock.

  ‘We didn’t know what to do,’ Liss said. ‘Or where to go. But eventually we decided to come here. I hope that’s okay.’

  ‘Of course it is,’ I said. ‘Of course. You did absolutely the right thing to come here. Did you walk all the way?’

  Annabelle nodded. ‘It took us weeks. We got lost a few times.’

  ‘You were lucky you didn’t get attacked by raiders,’ Pa said. ‘It’s dangerous out there.’

  ‘We kept off the roads,’ Annabelle said. ‘And we hid if we saw anyone.’

  Ma put the kettle on, shaking her head and muttering something to herself.

  ‘You okay, Ellie?’ Pa asked.

  ‘I just . . . Sometimes I forget what kind of world we’re living in. It’s barbaric.’

  ‘I’m so, so sorry about your parents,’ I said, knowing how inadequate those words sounded. ‘FJ has a lot to answer for. I know he’s your brother, but . . .’

  ‘FJ is coming here,’ Liss said, cutting me off.

  ‘What!’ I wasn’t sure I’d heard her right.

  ‘Liss!’ Annabelle cried.

  ‘He’s coming here,’ Liss whispered it this time. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘FJ’s coming here? When?’ I asked. ‘ Now? To rescue Grey? Or is he after you?’

  ‘No,’ she said, looking up at me for the first time. ‘Riley, he’s coming after you.’

  A chill entered my bones. I glanced from Liss to Annabelle and then back to Liss again. Ever since that evening when FJ had caught me in the clearing, I’d had nightmares about him. In my dreams I would be running away from him, but at the precise moment I thought I’d got away, I would realise that I was running toward him. And he’d be standing there in front of me, waiting, with a half-smile on his face.

  ‘FJ’s coming after me?’ I said. I don’t know why I sounded so surprised. Back in the clearing when he’d had me in cuffs, the look he’d shot me was one of pure hatred. I guessed that sooner or later he would be coming for me, or that I would go to him – after what he’d said about knowing Skye’s killer it was inevitable – but it still sent chills down my body to know that he was possibly on his way here right now. That he was thinking about me with revenge on his mind.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Pa said, getting to his feet and glaring at Liss. ‘Why is FJ only going after Riley? I can understand him wanting revenge, but it wasn’t only my daughter responsible for Grey’s capture. There was Luc and Denzil. Connor. Why Riley? Why’s he singled her out?’

  ‘I . . . I don’t know,’ Liss said, her face flushing. ‘I don’t even know why I said that. I must’ve got things mixed up. I’m not thinking straight. I was wrong. Sorry.’

  ‘Don’t lie,’ Pa said. ‘You seemed very clear a minute ago. Just tell us what you know.’ His face darkened. ‘If that boy wants trouble, he’s found it.’ His jaw clenched tight and his eyes narrowed.

  ‘Pa, it’s fine,’ I said. ‘I’m here aren’t I? And I’m perfectly safe.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Liss replied. ‘His disciples mentioned something when they came to the farm but, like I said, I must’ve got it mixed up.’

  ‘What exactly did they say?’ I stood up shakily and took a step closer to Liss. She seemed vague. Exhausted. Perhaps, like she said, she wasn’t thinking clearly.

  ‘That can’t be right,’ Ma said. ‘What would Liss’s brother want with you, Riley?’

  ‘I . . . I don’t know,’ I replied. I’d kept Ma in the dark about most of what had gone on since Skye’s death. She couldn’t take anymore trauma and I’d been scared that if she knew FJ was out to get me, she’d have another breakdown. Likewise, Pa would go ballistic if he knew FJ had a personal vendetta against me.

  ‘No, no. I’m sorry,’ Liss said. ‘I made a mistake.’ She picked up her spoon again and scooped up some porridge, but her hand was shaking uncontrollably. Something wasn’t right. She was hiding something.

  ‘Annabelle . . .’ I turned to the younger girl. ‘Did the soldiers say anything to you about wanting to find me?’

  She shook her head and carried on eating.

  ‘There,’ Ma said. ‘I told you it was a mistake. Why would the boy be interested in you, Riley? If he wanted anyone, it would be that dreadful James Grey.’

  ‘Pity he’s dead then isn’t it,’ I said.

  ‘Riley,’ Pa warned. It wasn’t common knowledge that Grey was dead and I shouldn’t have said anything in front of Liss and Annabelle. But the words had slipped out.

  ‘What!’ Liss dropped her spoon and it clattered onto the tiles.

  ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Grey died in custody after he got here. I think the trip from Salisbury made him weak . . .’

  ‘But he can’t be dead! He can’t. No!’ Liss was crying now, almost hyperventilating. Annabelle tried to calm her, whispering soothing words, her arm around her shoulders.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I didn’t realise Grey meant so much to you. I thought you hated him.’

  Liss stood up and looked around wildly. Ma kept telling her to calm down while Annabelle held her arms and told her it was all alright, but by now she was completely hysterical, sobbing and shaking.

  ‘Liss,’ Pa said, trying to get her attention.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked her. ‘This is Grey we’re talking about, the man who had you kidnapped and brainwashed. You can’t be upset he’s dead, surely?’

  ‘Liss!’ Pa’s deep voice cut through the hysteria in the room. ‘Tell us what’s going on. Is there something you’re hiding from us? We’re your friends. But we can’t help you if you don’t tell us what’s really happening.’ He splayed his hands on the table and stared at her.

  Liss looked up at him, tears streaking down her face, her whole body trembling. But still she didn’t speak.

  ‘Annabelle?’ I said. ‘What’s going on? Why is Liss so upset?’

  ‘Liss,’ Annabelle said. ‘Liss, it’s no good. We’ll have to tell them.’

  ‘No!’ Liss cried. ‘You can’t. They’ll kill them. What are we going to do?’

  ‘They’ll help us, I’m sure,’ Annabelle said. ‘I’m telling them.’

  ‘Telling who? Kill who?’ I said. Why was Liss so upset over the death of a man she hated? ‘Annabelle?’

  ‘We don’t have any choice,’ Annabelle pleaded with Liss.

  ‘Alright, alright,’ Liss said, wiping the tears from her face. ‘I’ll tell them. I’ll tell them.’

  ‘Please,’ I said. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘Just understand,’ Liss said. ‘I didn’t have a choice.’

  ‘Tell us,’ I said, sitting back down. Ma came and sat next to me and Pa, and we all three fixed our eyes on the girls.

  ‘Mum and dad aren’t dead,’ Liss said.

  ‘What!’

  ‘They’re alive? I lied to you before.’

  ‘Why? Why would you lie about something like that?’ I asked.

  Liss stared down at her porridge.

  ‘Is this a joke?’ I said. ‘So that story you told us before – about Grey’s men coming to your house – that was all a lie?’

  ‘No,’ Liss said. ‘Not a lie. Just . . . just not the whole truth.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  Liss

  Cold terror and shock permeated the tunnel as Liss and Annabelle crouched in the slimy darkness waiting to be discovered. Their frightened breaths amplified in the small space.

  ‘Will they find us?’ Annabelle whispered.

  ‘No one knows about this place,’ Liss said. ‘We should be safe. This tunnel leads to the outside.’

  ‘So why don’t we just keep going then?’ Annabelle asked. ‘We could go outside and get as far away from them as we can? Run back to the compound? Get help . . .’

  ‘We can’t leave mum and dad behind,’ Liss said. ‘They shot my mum, Annabelle. They shot her. Do you think she’s dead? What if they’re both dead?’ Her last word c
ame out as a shriek.

  ‘Shh, shh,’ Annabelle soothed, putting her arm around her friend. ‘They’ll be alright. You saw your dad, he was fine. And your mum will be too . . .’

  ‘Do you think so?’

  ‘Yes. Yes, definitely. We’ll stay here till the soldiers have gone and then we’ll go and help your parents, alright? Are you sure they won’t find us in here?’

  Liss stifled a fresh onslaught of tears. ‘Maybe we should go and help them now. Sneak back. Save them. We could get my dad’s shotgun. Kill them all.’

  ‘We’d never be able to kill them all,’ Annabelle whispered. ‘There’s too many. They’re too strong.’

  ‘We have to try. We have to do something. We can’t just save ourselves and leave them to . . .’

  Annabelle shook Liss’s shoulders. ‘Keep your voice down. They’ll hear.’

  ‘We should never have come back. Mum was right. We should’ve left the harvest and stayed safe in the compound. And now it’s too late.’ A chittering squeak came from the ground and Liss felt something small scuttle past her legs. Probably a rat, but she didn’t care. What was she even hiding for? If her parents were dead, she had lost everything and there was no point in anything anymore.

  ‘I’m going back,’ she said, feeling behind her for the narrow steps which led back up. ‘You stay here, Anna.’

  ‘No. Please, Liss. Don’t go. Don’t leave me. You’re all I’ve got in the world. If you let them take you, I’ll be alone. I’ll have no one.’

  ‘Go back to the compound. You’ll be safe there. They won’t take me. I’ll kill them first. Or they can kill me. Either way . . .’