North End
Page 26
Chapter Twenty Five
Instantly Tom knew that if they both ran then the creatures would catch them up. He therefore pushed Jodie in the direction of the stairs and shouted ‘Run!’ at her. He himself ran at the creatures with his knife.
He crashed into them and they all fell on the ground in the passageway where the lift was. Tom was on top of them but lost his knife in the struggle.
He punched at the creatures as many times as he could; they were writhing wildly trying to get their hands on him. They clawed at his head and body. They were smaller than he but much stronger than they looked.
The driver, who had backed away when Tom had run at the creatures, moved past this struggle and went towards Jodie, who had not run down the stairs. Another thing going wrong, he thought, as he saw she was very angry. He also noticed she could see Tom’s knife on the floor between her and him. He went to kick it away but she ran for it before he could do this.
She grabbed it and came towards the driver with it. He backed away towards Tom and the creatures. But Jodie was too quick and stabbed him in the thigh. The blade went all the way in.
‘Ow, you bloody cow!’ shouted the driver with pain at her and clambered back over Tom and the creatures through the door. He could feel and see lots of blood coming from his leg.
Tom had been aware that Jodie had attacked the driver. He then saw her come towards the creatures with her knife.
‘Get off him you bloody freaks!’ she screamed.
Tom, scratched and bloody, managed to free himself from the creatures. ‘No, Jodie. Down the stairs. Run for it!’ he said as he pulled her away from the creatures. He knew the creatures would have eventually got the better of him and he did not want Jodie hurt. They began to run down the stairs.
The creatures screamed behind them as they chased after ‘YOU’RE DEADS, DEADS! WE KILLS YOU!’ Tom had hurt them a little but they were very angry obviously wanting revenge for the death of their family members.
Tom and Jodie were running for their lives and they descended several flights of stairs without the creatures catching them. But they were getting closer all the time. Then, when they were about half-way down, Tom felt one of the creatures jump on him, making him and Jodie fall forward down the stairs.
They landed on the one of the wide corner stairs and the creature began to claw wildly at Tom, who was now on top of Jodie. The other creature then joined in screaming loudly.
Tom felt Jodie crawl out from under him. He tried to get up and turn himself around. He then saw Jodie stabbing at the creatures several times on their arms and backs. They shrieked with pain.
They then got off Tom and went for her. They were crazed with anger but so was she and she continued to stab at them. But they soon overcame her, knocked her down, and pounced on her ripping at her wildly. Tom managed to get up and went to help her. He ached and was in pain but his adrenalin was pumping through his body. There was no way he would allow Jodie to be hurt.
‘Get him as well,’ Tom heard the driver shout. He quickly looked up and saw the driver was holding his leg now with some kind of make-shift bandage covered in blood. He was also trying to get something thing out of his bag.
‘Quick, he’s coming for you,’ the driver said to the creatures.
Tom ignored him and attacked them. ‘Get off her, you bastards. Fight me!’ he said as he pulled one of them off Jodie. It was covered with blood but still had a lot of energy left. He pushed it aside and began to get the other one off Jodie.
Then the first one jumped on his back and tried to claw his eyes out. Tom staggered back against the safety rail of the stairway.
‘Kill them. They murdered your family,’ shouted the driver in a pained croaky voice. He was now sitting on a step, still trying to get something from his bag.
The other creature also got off Jodie and went for Tom but Tom saw Jodie come after it, stabbing at it with the knife. It then turned back towards Jodie and jumped on her. She landed on her back, losing the knife.
Tom then grabbed the hands of the creature still on his back, pushed them away and turned around. The creature was now almost seated on the safety rail. It struggled against Tom. But he knew what he had to do. He put his head down, bent his knees, and put all his remaining energy into pushing the creature over the rail. He succeeded and he briefly watched as it tumbled down the well of the staircase, screaming with shock and fear.
He quickly turned around to where Jodie was with the other creature. It was on top of Jodie, trying to claw her eyes out. Tom was out of breath and energy but pulled it off and smashed its head into a metal railing of the staircase. It slumped to the floor and began to move spasmodically, like it was having a fit, before it was still with its dead eyes open.
Jodie then shouted, ‘Tom, quick run!’
Tom looked in the direction she was staring, to see the driver coming down the stairs. He was holding his leg with one hand but had a long knife like a bayonet in the other.
Jodie grabbed Tom’s hand and they ran down the stairs.
‘Get back here, you two, and get what’s coming to you!’ shouted the driver sounding out-of-breath and in pain but continuing to come after them.
Tom was almost finished: he had no strength left; he could see Jodie was in a similar if not worse state. He knew the driver could hurt them if he caught them, and he now had no weapon after Jodie had lost his knife. They were no longer running but almost stumbling down the stairs.
‘You’re dead meat when I get you!’ shouted the driver from behind them.
Tom was now almost dragging Jodie by the hand. He was not sure how long he could continue himself. They got to the bottom of the stairs and continued into the disused station, past the control-room entrance, and over the bridge that led down to the platforms.
As they got to the Northbound platform, Tom stopped so they could catch their breaths before they made one last effort. ‘We have to...have to...go into the tunnel to Golders Green...There’s no other way,’ Tom finished almost breathlessly as he continued to look back the way they had come.
He then saw some movement and Tom helped Jodie down onto the tracks. They then entered the tunnel.
They continued to stumble through it until they reached its entrance at Golders Green. Tom felt like it had taken them forever and did not know how much further they could go without passing out with exhaustion. He should have felt relief at being above ground in the open air but was not sure if the driver was still pursuing them. Tom had not heard anything but he was not certain.
He dragged Jodie to the left. ‘Let’s go this way,’ he said, now no longer even looking at Jodie. He did not want to go into Golders Green station. For one thing the driver would be able to easily spot and catch them if they went that way; for another he was fed up with not being believed anymore by the authorities and did not want to look a fool again. This was even though he was desperate for some water.
He got behind Jodie and pushed her up the bank. He then pulled her along a fence for a while until he dragged her through a gap he found in it. They emerged onto the car park of the Golders Green Hippodrome, which was next to the tube station.
Tom put his arm around Jodie, who could not even open her eyes, and they walked on a little bit longer until they were on North End Road again. They then fell over exhausted. Tom looked in the direction they had come but there was nothing and no one. He then looked at his watch, as he pulled Jodie to sit alongside him against a wooden fence. It was just after 3.15 a.m.
Tom put his arm around Jodie to comfort her. She looked up at him. ’Is it over? Are we safe?’ she whimpered.
But before he could answer, he heard a car coming in their direction. He looked up: it was the police! The car stopped in front of them. Tom began to get up.
‘I don’t bloody believe it! It’s you again!’ said the policeman Tom now recognised as the one he saw last Sunday after he had seen Jodie being taken by the creatures.