Turning her gaze back upon Brandon, Lauren shook her head once more, “Because the ghouls might be lurking about…we need to stay safe”
“She’s right lad” Robert gave a chuckle, trying to help “Best to be inside instead of out there, eh? No-one is allowed off the farm”
“Not true” Brandon half-turned his head as he addressed the doctor, “The nice lady Alice, and the lady with the funny voice and the thin man all went off the farm and they haven’t come back!”
Wincing, Lauren shook her head, “I explained this to you, Brandon, do you remember, they have gone back to their own homes”
He blinked at her words, and she could almost hear him thinking, trying to come up with a new reason, then he nodded, “What about the man with the beard and the silver-haired lady who keep smiling at each other when they think no-one else is looking? They went off the farm too”
Trying not to laugh at his description of Dog and Bella, Lauren turned her head, seeing the smiles upon the faces of Dr Green and Jiyaa, and then she shook her head once more, “They are adults”
“I’m an adult” he argued and she sighed heavily.
“You are, but I have to take care of you”
For long moments he stared back at Lauren in silence and then he spoke once more, his words, slow and deliberate, “I want to post my letter”
Catching the inside of her cheek between her back teeth, Lauren held his gaze for a moment and then gave another shake of her head, “No, it is not happening, only adults can go out”
“Not true” Brandon’s voice was almost a shout, his free hand starting to pat the side of his head repeatedly once more as he began to work himself up, “Not true…stop lying”
“I am not lying!” she stated, trying not to get angry, knowing full well that it wasn’t his fault but knowing she had to be assertive with him.
“Lies!” Brandon shook his head, “Stop lying!”
“She isn’t lying lad” Robert spoke once more, his deep voice drawing the gaze of the black man.
“Lies” Brandon shouted, head shaking, “Eric and Emily went out…he told me…they saw ghouls”
“What?” Lauren turned her head, staring at the Asian teenager as she gave a curse and turned to look back at both her and Brandon in a mixture of shock and disbelief. Then she stormed to the kitchen doorway, her voice angry as she shouted.
“Eric you little shit!”
“Whoa!” Valerie stepped away from the sink, hands waving in a calming manner, but Lauren was too far gone, her head shaking as she stared at the teenage girl in complete astonishment.
“You left the farm?”
For a moment, the girl held her gaze in silence and then she grimaced, her head shaking, “We went to the land beyond the barns…that’s it!”
“Why!” Lauren was incredulous, her eyes wide behind her glasses, “We all told you guys and Brandon how dangerous it is out there!”
“You’re not my mum!” Emily’s features suddenly darkened, her voice dropping to barely more than a whisper and as if sensing a storm about to start, Valerie moved across the kitchen and stood beside the teenage girl, forcing a smile as she met Laurens gaze, an arm encircling Emily’s shoulder.
“Look there’s no harm done, I’m sure she didn’t mean to cause any bother, right love?”
“Right” Emily shrugged, clearly still angry with being questioned, her eyes locked to those of the young nurse, “Besides, me and Eric didn’t just go wandering…we were advised to go for a walk by an adult…the owner of this farm!”
“Oh shit” the deep voice of Robert sounded and beside Emily, his wife snapped her head about.
“Robert, what have you gone and bloody done?”
“Hey now hold on!” the farmer raised his hands, head shaking as he winced, “Don’t you start bawling at me woman, the kids are bloody bored, you cant expect them to stay cooped up!”
“We can!” Lauren sighed, glancing at the farmer, one hand gesturing to Brandon, “Because now he thinks he can go and post a letter to his parents!”
“Ah its just a letter” Robert waved a hand, picking up his cup of tea with the other, “Let him send it, what harm can it do, right Doc?”
As Lauren turned her head, Doctor Green winced, hands raising defensively, “I really don’t want to get involved in an argument, but I do feel it might be best if we stayed on the farm”
“See Robert” Valerie pointed at the doctor as she shook her head, “That’s medical advice that!”
“But its not a medical issue!” the farmer rolled his eyes, “No offence Doc”
As Doctor Green winced, Lauren turned her head to look at Brandon as he raised his voice, “I want to post a letter to my mum and dad”
“You can’t” she shook her head, “I am sorry”
“I want to post my letter” he repeated, and she gave a shaky sigh, hands rubbing at her temples.
“Brandon please”
“It is not fair!” he raised his voice, and Lauren grimaced, then turned to look as Eric suddenly entered the kitchen, his siter launching into a tirade at him, one hand pointing in his face.
“You made me promise not to tell anyone then you go and tell, Brandon!”
“What?” the young boy blinked, head shaking.
“About going out!” Emily was beside herself with anger, “You have made me look a right prick!”
“Language!” Valerie shook her head, trying to step between the siblings, and as Brandon began to tug at Lauren’s sleeve, demanding loudly for the right to go and post his letter, Robert rose to his feet, clearly concerned for the nurses safety.
“Come on son, stop pulling at her”
“Let me post my letter” Brandon suddenly shouted, his voice loud, and Lauren felt herself get swept away in the storm of noise that was suddenly sweeping through the kitchen like a tsunami, her head turning to stare about her.
Emily was now screaming at her younger brother, who was shouting back, while Valerie tried to keep them apart, her own voice rising in anger as she shouted at her husband, the farmer grimacing as he replied to her and also told Brandon to stop pulling on Lauren’s clothes, Doctor Green also now on his feet trying to calm the young man, while her charge shouted over and over that he wanted to post his letter.
Suddenly, Lauren met the gaze of Jiyaa as the Indian woman sat at the table, her brown eyes fixed with sadness, that depth of emotion for some reason mixing with the cacophony of noise. “For the love of God, can’t you just let him post the letter!” Valerie suddenly turned, meeting the gaze of Lauren as she glanced at the farmer’s wife, the woman’s words sending Brandon into more of a meltdown, one hand grasping roughly at Laurens right forearm as he spun her about, his features almost in hers as he screamed aloud.
“Let me post my letter to my mum and dad!”
“They’re dead!” Lauren was unable to stop the words leaving her lips, her voice matching his in volume, and before her, the young black man shrunk back as if she had struck him across the face, his eyes wide, his lips moving soundlessly.
As if a switch had been thrown, everyone in the kitchen fell silent, their eyes fixing upon the young nurse and she winced, her head shaking as she met the pained gaze of Brandon, “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have let you know like that!”
“Oh the poor flower” the voice of Valerie had Lauren turning her face towards the wife of the farmer, her stomach knotting as she saw the look of shock upon the woman’s face, and she sighed.
“I tried to keep this calm…but everyone…I couldn’t think…I didn’t mean to tell him like that”
“It’s not your fault, Lauren” Doctor Green moved alongside her, sending her a reassuring smile.
“No, its his!” Valerie turned to jerk a thumb at her husband, her head shaking, “If you hadn’t let the kids wander off this wouldn’t have happened!”
“I’m not a kid!” Eric snapped angrily, only to wince as Emily took a quick step towards him.
“Hey, have
some respect for these people, they have put us up and fed us!”
“Fuck off!” he shouted, turning and running out of the kitchen and with a roar of rage, Emily made to follow him, only for Valerie to grab her.
“No love, don’t…just calm down!”
“Bloody Hell!” Robert grimaced, then winced as his wife sent him a scathing look, “What?”
“Don’t you what me, Robert Naughton!”
“Fucking Hell!” he groaned, dropping back on to his chair, picking up his cup of tea once more.
“Don’t you ignore me!” the farmers wife released her grip on Emily, the roar of the teenage girl loud as she raced off in pursuit of her brother, and then Doctor Green was moving to stand between the married couple, pleading for calm.
Amid it all, Lauren placed her hands beside her head, closing her eyes as she considered what she had just told Brandon; guilt assailing her.
“He’s gone!” the shouted voice suddenly rang through the new wave of noise, and as one everyone in the kitchen turned their heads, the eyes of Lauren widening as she saw Jiyaa now standing at the table, her features twisted in concern as she gestured towards the back door.
“Bloody Hell” Robert gave a soft chuckle, “I thought you couldn’t speak a word of English!”
“Jiyaa?” Lauren shook her head in confusion.
For a moment, the Indian woman stared back into the nurse’s eyes and then she spoke once more, her heavily accented voice thick with dread, “Brandon has run away!”
Chapter Forty One
“Where on Earth could he have gone?” Dr Green stepped through the heavy rain that they had found when he, Lauren and Jiyaa had stepped from the farmhouse to search for the missing Brandon, all three dressed in heavy rain jackets that Valerie had given them before leaving, their hoods pulled up against the appalling weather.
The young nurse, stood between her two new friends, turned to glance at the doctor as he spoke, wincing as she considered his words, her eyes dropping to study the shotgun that he was reluctantly carrying, then shook her head, “I have no idea…the day this all kicked off at the hospital was the first day I had met him…I don’t really know Brandon at all”
The doctor nodded as he met her gaze, then forced a smile, “None of this is your fault, Lauren, you have to believe that, many people would have abandoned him already”
“Doctor is right” the voice of Jiyaa had both Lauren and the silver-haired doctor turning to face her as she stood alongside them, the nurse shaking her head as she held her gaze, “Why didn’t you tell anyone that you spoke English?”
The Indian woman winced, eyes lowering as if she were ashamed, “I learned to speak English from a doctor friend of mine in my homeland, a young white Englishman…my brother, Opinder, he would not have approved…better for me to play the doting and meek sister”
Lauren cringed, imagining how hard it must have been for Jiyaa as the woman shook her head, “I loved my brother but he was old ways…er…old fashion…fashioned…it would not do for me to be so new…modern. When I meet Alice…I keep it a secret I speak English…then I worry too much time have passed by…so I stay silent”
“Well, you don’t have to anymore” Doctor Green sent her a smile, nodding as he spoke, “We are all in this together now”
“Doctor Green is right” Lauren reached out a hand to gently squeeze the right hand of Jiyaa, drawing a smile from the woman, then she turned, staring around the farmyard for any sign of her charge, “Damn it Brandon, where are you?”
“The ambulance hasn’t moved” the doctor stated and the trio all turned to study the vehicle as it sat blocking the entrance to the track to the main road, “Could he be hiding within it perhaps?”
“No” Lauren shook her head, “I locked it all up after parking it back there when Dog and Bella went out this morning”
“I hope they OK” the voice of Jiyaa had the nurse turning to study her, the Indian woman wincing as she met her gaze, “They gone long time, yes?”
“They have” Lauren nodded grimly, turning her face up to study the thick black clouds overhead for a moment, cursing as the rain covered her glasses, and lowering her face, she wiped them with a forearm, “They should be back by now”
“Please” Doctor Green shook his head, chuckling softly, “Let’s find Brandon before we start on another problem, one at a time eh?”
Lauren nodded, smiling grimly, then without a conscious decision to do so, the three began to walk through the heavy rain towards the ambulance, pausing as they reached the bonnet.
“Well, he’s not here” Lauren muttered turning her head about, then grimacing, she stepped to the side to study the gap between the side of the ambulance and the steep drop to the valley below, realising it was too narrow to move past. Taking a deep breath as her companions watched her, her stomach tight with dread, she turned and peered over the drop, relief touching her as she saw that Brandon wasn’t lying hurt below.
“Are we OK?” the doctor asked, and she nodded.
“He hasn’t fallen there, but we still have no idea where on Earth he might have gone”
The doctor and Jiyaa studied her in silence for a moment, then the Indian woman turned her head, looking up at the steep rise that reared up behind and to the East side of the farmhouse, grunting softly and Lauren frowned, “What is it?”
“I do not think he climb there” Jiyaa replied in her broken English, “I think it too difficult, yes?”
“I agree” Doctor Green moved alongside her, his head turning towards the two old barns, “We should check that area, didn’t Brandon say that Eric and Emily had been out over that way?”
“Oh God” Lauren nodded, almost breaking into a run as she hurried across the farmyard, splashing through mud and puddles, her two companions hurrying to keep pace with her as she called out frantically, “Brandon, I’m sorry…where are you?”
As she glanced about, she saw Jiyaa and the doctor wincing, perhaps worried her calls would attract ghouls, and she shook her head, “We should be safe, Dog and Bella did a sweep of the farm yesterday and today and didn’t see any of them…but remember, if we do…keep still”
Doctor Green nodded at her words, eyes glancing to the heavens, “If their eyesight is as bad as it seems this rain will only make it worse, there is always a bright side”
Lauren smiled at his words, and continued walking towards the barns, hearing the splashes as they both began to follow her once more.
She was touched by their support, and had grown to like them both in the short time they had known each other, the revelation that Jiyaa could speak English both shocking and pleasing her, knowing that now they could talk properly.
Yet despite the optimistic words of the doctor, Lauren was struggling to find a bright side in the fact that she had blurted out that Brandon’s parents were dead, sending him into a meltdown.
It had grown apparent during their two days at the farmhouse that what had happened in Thames was not restricted to just that city and was no doubt happening all over the country, perhaps the world, and it stood to reason that with no hospital to return to she was jobless, and therefore had no real responsibility to look after Brandon any longer. Yet she knew she couldn’t abandon him. Not now. He had lost his parents and his sister. Now he had lost his home at the hospital and everything he had come to know.
For a young man whose entire life was built around structure and routine this must be even more terrifying for him than for anyone else.
And now she had sent him running and scared.
Feeling sick with concern, she stepped up to the first of the barns, staring in through the open door at the old pieces of machinery and piles of tools, able to see at once that Brandon was not inside and then moved on to the second barn.
For a moment she stood there staring in at the old car, and the small patch of blood upon the floor beside it, grimacing as she recalled Alice telling her about the ghoul that she, Dog and Bella had found eating a rat beside the ve
hicle.
She sighed heavily at the memory, suddenly missing the brown-haired woman with an intensity that surprised her, then gave a smile as she reached down to the trousers of the nurse uniform she was still wearing, her fingers feeling the folded piece of paper that sat in a pocket with Alice’s phone number written upon it. They would meet again; she would make sure they did.
“He not in there I think” Jiyaa stated peering through the open entrance as she stood between Lauren and Doctor Green, and the nurse nodded, grimacing as she cast her gaze about, then stepped back, heading for the side of the barns.
Hadn’t Brandon claimed that the brother and sister had gone behind the barns and seen some ghouls? She winced at the thought, pushing away the fear that had already begun twisting her gut as she pictured a mass of ghouls gathering back there, realising that if there were any there they would have seen them appear long before now.
Taking a deep breath, Lauren paused, glancing back long enough to reassure herself that Doctor Green and Jiyaa were with her and then she continued down the side of the two barns, stepping through the thick mud and puddles.
She turned as she reached the end, her eyes widening in shock as she saw the familiar figure of Brandon standing ahead of them, barely visible amid the rain, his black and white tracksuit soaked through, his red chunky earphones fastened about his ears. For a moment, she stood staring at the man, older than she by six years but made younger by his neurological disorder, in a mixture of relief and anger, both emotions vying for control, and shaking her head, she took a step towards him only to realise that he was facing away from her, “Brandon…”
“Wait” the hiss of concern from Doctor Green stopped her dead in her tracks and turning she saw him gesture towards her charge, “Look!”
Grimacing, she turned back, Jiyaa gasping beside her in realisation, the Indian woman noticing the danger at the same time that Lauren realised that Brandon was standing at the edge of the drop.
Ghoul: The Beginning Page 24