31 Days of Autumn

by Fallowfield, C. J.

  ‘Jesus,’ I muttered as I saw his face come into view.

  ‘You recognise him?’ Andy asked, frowning as we both stared at the dark-haired guy looking back at us with a smile.

  ‘Yes, I know exactly who this is, but his name isn’t Damien Daniels.’

  ‘You’re telling me Ian didn’t know this guy was operating under a fake identity?’

  ‘Pretty impressive to fool him, huh?’ I nodded, glaring at the face looking up at me from my screen, anger coursing through my veins. If Andy didn’t get to him first, I was going to kill the arsehole responsible for all of this suffering myself.

  Day Twenty Six

  Friday 18th September

  Ellie

  I’d managed to drag James’s old mattress across the room and flip it over on top of mine. I couldn’t seem to get warm, so figured that sandwiching myself between them should help. I reached up and touched my forehead. It was clammy, I felt dizzy, and I knew that I had a temperature. That, and the fact that the pain from my gunshot wound seemed to have got worse, told me that my leg was infected. I seriously doubted Alfa or Charlie would give a shit, if they ever came back to check on me. When I’d come around after Alfa had gassed the room, then knocked me out, I’d found that I’d been locked back in, but, as if he hadn’t tortured me enough, he’d left the bodies of his accomplices in here with me. I had no idea how long I’d been left alone down here, but no one had been to check on me, or bring me any food or water, for a very long time.

  I hobbled over to use the toilet and remembered the pocket knife I’d hidden. I lifted the seat and saw it was still there, lying at the bottom of the dirty bowl. I didn’t really have a choice if I wanted it, in the event that I needed to protect myself, so it seemed I was going to have to put my hand in and pull it out. I looked back over at the bodies that were still lying exactly where James had killed them. Delta’s clothes were covered in his congealed blood, as was the floor around him, and I gagged as I looked down at it, quickly averting my eyes. There was no way I could touch him, and I seriously doubted that I’d ever be able to look at red jelly ever again. I headed over to Bravo, dragging my leg behind me. James had taken his jumper, but his combat trousers would do. I cursed when I realised that rigor mortis had already set in, there was no way I had the strength, or the stomach, to break his bones so that I could straighten his legs. Instead, I focussed on his black long-sleeved top, using my dirty, chipped nails to claw at the stitching on the shoulder. I shivered and avoided looking at his glassy, staring eyes that seemed to follow me wherever I went in this claustrophobic space.

  It took me some time, but I managed to rip one of his sleeves off and knotted the cuff to form a rough glove. When I saw he was wearing a magnetic bracelet, I shook my head. All of that effort and he had exactly what I needed, and it was a far more hygienic option. I pulled it off, then stripped out a set of laces from his boot. I looked back at him as I bit my lip. James had broken his neck, so there was no blood anywhere and he was still wearing his balaclava. I figured I could rip that as well and make myself a hat. I always reminded Dan to wear his in winter, as most of the body’s heat was lost through the head. I stripped it off him, not looking at his face. I needed him to remain a faceless mercenary for hire. I didn’t want to see what he really looked like, that would make him real. He might have a kind face, maybe not, but he’d look real enough to remind me that he was someone’s son, maybe even a boyfriend, husband, or father, and that image could never be unseen again. It was easier to distance myself from the guilt of his death if he stayed faceless. I ripped from the eyeholes until I had a version of a tatty beanie and put it on my head, pulling it down.

  I made my way back to the toilet and tied the shoe lace to the magnetic bracelet, then went fishing, managing to pull the knife out without sticking my hand in the squalor. I used the glove I’d made to hold it as I went to clean it under the tap. I cursed to find that I had no water. I tried the other tap, just in case, but there was nothing. I just stared at the empty sink as it dawned on me that the water supply had either run out, or it had been deliberately turned off. Had they seriously just barricaded me in here to die? The thought made me shudder, but oddly, I wasn’t scared anymore. After seeing what they did to Jenny, I was oddly resigned to my fate. Even if Dan met all of their demands, I couldn’t ever see a man like Alfa freeing me. If Dan couldn’t find me, my death was inevitable and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. I licked my dry lips. Not only did I not have any water now, but I’d not eaten anything since the set of sandwiches before the ones they left when James escaped. I’d let him take my share, thinking that they’d continue to bring me some. The battery LED lanterns that they’d left us with were dying as well. I was now down to one and was surprised it hadn’t already packed up, so it wasn’t going to be long before I had no light either. I looked back at the toilet as I cleaned the knife with Bravo’s shirt sleeve. Was I that desperate to live that I’d drink from a dirty toilet bowl? I shuddered. Right now, however dire my fate seemed, I wasn’t desperate enough.

  A light bulb went off in my head. The bowl might be dirty, but the cistern would have fresh water inside, if you could call it that. I folded the knife shut and tucked it down under my jumper to nestle between my breasts, where it hopefully wouldn’t be seen or found. I then lifted the cistern lid. If I wasn’t so dehydrated, I’d have cried. Alfa obviously had turned off the water, then returned to flush the toilet out of spite. I looked up at the camera to see that the chewing gum I’d stretched over the lens had either been removed, or the camera had been replaced. As angry as I was at the thought of them sitting in that warm dry bunkhouse watching me suffering, assuming they hadn’t already packed up and left me here, a part of me was grateful. The thought that Jenny and I were going to be raped had crossed my mind on many occasions. I’d rather go out like this than to have endured that. Thank God the toilet and sink weren’t in line of sight of the camera. If they were still there, they’d have no idea what I’d just done. I had a pee, grimacing to be unable to wash my hands, and from having to force myself not to flush, then made my way back to my bed, taking the last flickering lamp with me.

  I sandwiched myself between the two mattresses, wincing at the weight of the one on my leg. I thought I’d experienced hell when I lost my parents, when Matt and Zac had treated me so badly, or when I was separated from Dan. But even living like this, dying like this, was a walk in the park compared to the pain of not knowing if Oliver was safe, or the knowledge that I might never see my friends and family again. I didn’t want my two babies growing up never remembering me. Oliver was so young, even he would forget me in time. If I’d been diagnosed with a terminal disease, it would have been bad enough, but I’d have time to enjoy my remaining days with them, to write them letters, to do videos to be given to them on important days in their lives. I’d be with them in spirit for their birthdays, their graduation, even their wedding days. I’d have hugged them for longer, kissed them more, told them that I loved them and how precious they were to me on the hour, every hour. They’d never have had the chance to forget me. I hated that these men had taken that away from me, from my children. That was the most crippling torture they’d made me endure.

  I put my hand down the front of my jumper, pulling out the two lockets I was wearing. I had to look again, one last time, before I was plunged into darkness. I opened my mum’s locket and smiled as I looked at the picture of her and my dad and the one of Dan. I missed him so much. I’d give anything to feel his strong arms around me right now. I just hoped he’d seen that recording when Alfa shot me, where I’d told him that I loved him and gave him my blessing to move on. The thought of him with someone else was agonising, but I’d rather he have someone in his life to look after him, and for my children to grow up with a new mother who could give them all of the love, affection, attention, encouragement, and support that I would have done. I kissed both photographs and snapped the locket shut, then picked up the other. It had been
one of my wedding presents from Dan. He’d had it designed to perfectly match my mum’s, with one exception. Set into the engraved front was a heart shaped emerald. I took a wobbly-lipped inhalation as I looked at the pictures inside. One was of Oliver sitting on the floor, his arms around Jonas, who was sitting between Oliver’s legs. The other was of Eva, lying on her back looking up at the camera. All three of them were giggling. Dan had been pulling funny faces to make them smile as the professional photographs had been taken.

  ‘No,’ I croaked as the light started to dim, taking my last consolation with it.

  I needed more time with them.

  I needed forever with them.

  ‘I love you, all of you, never forget that, no matter what.’

  I was plunged into darkness, with nothing but two corpses for company, ones I was likely to be joining very soon. If Alfa or Charlie came for me, I decided I was going to go down fighting, using this knife, because I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Dan would be doing everything in his power to fight for me. I owed it to him to fight just as hard to try and keep myself alive. But if no one came for me, at some stage I’d have to consider whether using the knife to cut myself and bleed out would be a more preferable and faster way to die than starving to death.

  I could hear Dan’s voice. He’d found me! He was kissing my face and telling me that he loved me, before he lifted me into his strong arms. I whispered his name and cried as I saw a brilliant white light rapidly approaching me. I wasn’t in Dan’s arms and I wasn’t dreaming. I was dying. This was what heaven looked like, bright and blinding but oddly comforting. I could even hear the sound of hundreds of angels’ wings moving through the air. I didn’t want to give up, I didn’t want to leave all of my loved ones behind, but I was so tired of fighting to live without hope. My tears dried up as I accepted it was over and I suddenly felt at peace. All of my fear melted away, all of the horror of the last week was replaced by a feeling of comfort, of being surrounded by love. I wondered if that’s what my parents and Jenny had seen and felt in their last moments. I liked to imagine it was.

  I smiled as I realised that I was going to get to see them again. Soon.

  Damien Daniels

  I screamed, I actually screamed like a frightened little girl, when Alfa stormed into my bedroom, grabbed the neck of my jumper, and dragged me into the lounge. He threw me down into a chair and shoved my laptop at me. He’d been furious yesterday when the extra money hadn’t turned up and had paced for hours, with me cowering in the corner wondering what was going to happen. I’d convinced him to take the risk of waiting a final twenty-four hours by telling him that the deadlines he’d set really hadn’t been realistic for the amounts of money he was expecting Davenport to liquidate. He’d locked me back in my room and had spent hours booby trapping a perimeter around the cottage in the event that James had made it out alive and sent the police in after us.

  ‘Check again,’ he barked as he stood next to me.

  ‘You need to go and stand on the other side of the room.’ I cringed as he glared at me and braced myself for a punch in the face.

  ‘No, check.’

  ‘No,’ I retorted, my hands shaking as I stood my ground. ‘I’ve had nothing but time to think since yesterday. I’m not totally stupid. I sign in with you standing next to me, then you don’t need me anymore. You have access to my bank account, which already has a guaranteed twenty million. Seeing as though Charlie hasn’t come back, I’d say that something has gone horribly wrong and he’s dead too. I’m sure that’s your plan for me the minute I’m logged on. Even if Davenport hasn’t paid the remaining ransom, you’d get to walk away with the exact share you were going to get in the first place.’

  ‘Not quite as stupid as I thought you were,’ he replied in a droll tone and started walking down to the other end of the table.

  ‘No, I’m not, and I’m not going to log in straight away either. I’m going to keep tapping on my keyboard without telling you when I’m looking at the bank account. I’ll screen print the balance and show you after I’ve logged out. That way you can’t shoot me, because if you do and I’m not online, you’ll end up without a single penny.’

  ‘You fucker,’ he hissed, slamming his palms down on the table, his evil brown eyes shooting flaming arrows of destruction at me.

  ‘Me?!’ I shot back, standing up and repeating his actions with my hands on the table as we eyeballed each other. It had just hit me that for the first time since I met him and his band of freaks, there’d been a shift in power. I was in control now. If he wanted his money, he couldn’t lay a single bloody finger on me. ‘You were going to fucking kill me! If you want to walk away with something to show for the pile of shit you rained down on us all, then you’ll sit the fuck down and do as I tell you!’ We glowered at each other for a while and I had to resist doing a fist pump in the air when he slowly lowered himself into the chair opposite. I smirked instead, then looked behind me to make sure that there were no reflective surfaces or hidden cameras to record what I was doing. Satisfied, and desperate to relieve my quaking legs from standing up to him, I sat back down. Two days ago I’d been desperate to have access to this computer so that I could send an email SOS out, but now that I could see me walking away from this with at least ten million, I wasn’t doing any such thing.

  I logged on and pressed the mute button, clicking onto a free porn website. I might as well enjoy myself while I made him sweat. Every now and then I’d tap a load of keys to keep him on his toes. Even without seeing his face, or feeling the anger radiating off him, I could see it in those bloody brown eyes fixated on me. I was going to have nightmares about those fucking eyes. After about half an hour of waiting, I tapped into my account. It took every skill I’d learned in countless games of poker not to give away my disappointment at the twenty million pound balance. Davenport hadn’t paid and I’d been so sure he would. I’d lied yesterday when I told Alfa that he’d need another twenty-four hour extension. He’d easily have had the money together by then, which meant he’d chosen not to pay it. I just couldn’t believe it. I screen printed the balance and quickly logged off, leaving the porn running. I hadn’t been without sex for this long in fucking ages. It was a good job that I’d chosen to kick my coke habit at last or I’d have been in serious detox right now.

  ‘Are you fucking kidding me here?’ bit Alfa a short while later. ‘Has he paid or not?’

  ‘No, he hasn’t,’ I replied.

  ‘I don’t believe you.’

  ‘Come and see for yourself.’ He strode over and I showed him the date and time-stamped screenshot of the balance.

  ‘The bastard,’ he roared, grabbing my laptop and smashing it down onto the floor, making me flinch. He stamped on it again and again, pulverising it to fragments of glass, plastic, and metal.

  ‘Has anyone ever suggested that you try anger management classes?’ I asked. I gasped as he grabbed me by the throat and slammed me, and the chair, backwards onto the floor and crouched over me, snarling. ‘You can’t kill me,’ I squeaked, but his fingers squeezed even harder, making my eyes water.

  ‘No, but I can still make you feel a whole world of pain without letting you die.’

  ‘Ok, ok,’ I coughed, nodding. ‘So what now? I’m not transferring any money until I think of a way to do it where I’m protected from you.’

  ‘If he hasn’t paid, he doesn’t give a shit about his wife. We’re never going to see another penny, so we’re getting the hell out of here and you can figure it out on the way. Don’t think for a single second that I’m going to let you out of my fucking sight.’ He let go of me and strode towards the sideboard, which had very little kit left on it, as I gasped for air and rubbed my bruised neck. He returned with a cable tie, roughly grabbed my hands, and forcefully secured my wrists together.

  ‘Owwww,’ I protested.

  ‘Shut it,’ he snapped, yanking me to my feet and dragging me outside. I squinted in the daylight and stumbled as he threw me against the
van, then shoved me onto the passenger seat. He pulled on my seat belt, locking it into place, then used another cable tie to attach my hands to the belt so I had no way of getting out. He slammed the door and disappeared back into the cottage. I craned my neck to look into the back of the van, but a thick blanket was covering whatever was there. It looked like a bloody body. I couldn’t wait to get out of here and back to civilisation. I’d never been cut out for the country. It was a good five minutes before he returned and opened his door. I sniffed the air.

  ‘What’s that smell?’ I asked.

  ‘I’ve torched the place. If anyone comes looking, they won’t find any trace of DNA for either of us.’

  ‘What about the bunker?’

  ‘No risk of my DNA being in there, I made sure of it, doesn’t matter about the other two, they can’t trace them to me.’

  ‘Where’s Ellie?’ I asked as he started the engine.

  ‘The bitch is dead,’ he replied without a hint of emotion.

  ‘Fuck,’ I groaned, surprising myself at how badly that news hit me. ‘You didn’t have to bloody kill her. Or the other girl. You could have let them all go once we had the money. I never wanted any of them dead, this is all on you. How do you sleep at night, you … psychopath?’

  ‘Like a fucking baby,’ he snarled, throwing a glare my way. ‘Don’t make out like you have a fucking heart, Damien. You started this. Their blood is on your hands as well. If it makes you sleep better at night, because you have a teenage crush on her or something, she’s not dead yet. But she doesn’t have long.’

  I swallowed a lump that had formed in my throat and turned to look out of my window as he started to drive away from the cottage that already had flames tearing up the curtains. I wondered if ten million was really worth the guilt that I was feeling right now. I’d never meant for anyone to get physically hurt, and watching the Davenport family for so long had oddly made me feel like I’d become a part of it. I looked around, surprised, when Alfa braked and pulled to a stop, then opened his door.