The Border: The Complete Series

by Cross, Amy

Dropping to his knees next to the body, Ben took hold of the mask and tried to pull it loose. Finding that it was stuck, he pulled harder, and this time the fabric began to tear. When the mask finally came away, the broken horns remained in place, embedded deep in Tom's skull.

  “Tom Lanegan,” Ben whispered. “I met him a few times. I always thought he was the most boring man in the world.”

  “I heard Jack,” Jane stammered, still looking around as tears ran down her face. “I heard him. He was here.”

  “Was it self-defense?” Ben asked.

  She turned to him, and finally she nodded.

  “Good,” he continued. “I'm just sorry it was you who got him instead of me. I mean, I'm used to killing people. I crossed that line a long time ago.”

  Nodding, Jane finally managed to look away from Tom's body, but a moment later her gaze fell upon the door in the far corner. The pain in her head was getting worse, but she couldn't handle the thought of turning back.

  “I guess that leads down to the ninth level,” she said finally, her voice trembling slightly as she realized she could barely hold the rifle properly. Her hands were shaking and her mind was filled with replays of the moment she'd heard Jack's voice, and finally she had to turn away from Ben as she felt her chest starting to tighten. “I can't breathe,” she stammered, stepping forward and leaning against the wall. “Something's wrong, I can't -”

  “You're having a panic attack,” Ben told her, hurrying over and putting an arm around her. “You're bleeding, too. Looks like you took a knock to the head. I think you need to get to a hospital.”

  She shook her head.

  “Jane,” he continued, “you're hurt. You'll die if you don't get back up there.”

  “I'm not leaving you here.”

  “You can come back when you're ready,” he replied. “I've got a feeling it'll take a few days to get this done, so I'll come back up with you to get some supplies and then I'll come down and get on with it while you take some time out. And then when you're ready, if you're ready, you can come help out again.”

  “No, I -”

  “You lost your husband,” he added. “You lost the man you love, the father of your two children. I lost my brother a long time ago, I'm used to the idea of him not being around.”

  “This place has to be shut down,” she replied, already feeling as if she could breathe more easily now.

  “It's already shut down,” he pointed out. “We've cleared out the top eight levels, now we just have to finish off whatever's left below. The hard part's done, Jane. All that's left now is for us to scrape out the human garbage at the very bottom.”

  “I'm not leaving until it's done.”

  “Take a break and come back in a day or two.”

  “I'm not leaving!” she screamed, stumbling past him even as she felt the whole world starting to spin. She slammed into the wall, barely able to stay on her feet, but after a moment she felt steady enough to keep going. This time, however, she tilted to the other side and fell, crashing down as her vision became blurred.

  “I'm taking you back up,” Ben said, as she felt him lifting her from the ground. “I'll come back down as soon as I've got you to the hospital, but I'm not letting you die here.”

  “I'm not leaving,” she whispered, although she could already feel herself losing consciousness. “You can't do it alone. I'm not...”

  “It's okay,” he told her. “You got the guy who killed Jack. You got the bastard.”

  She tried to reply, but she could barely force the words out. As she felt Ben carrying her up the stairs, she began to slip into darkness.

  “Tell those kids their Uncle Ben is gonna come back some day and make sure they're on the straight and narrow,” she heard Ben saying, his voice sounding further and further away. “Tell them they can't go using their father's death as an excuse to be assholes. Don't worry, I...”

  The rest faded to nothing as she lost consciousness, and as the pain of her fractured skull began to flood what was left of her mind.

  ***

  “He's going to need a lot of physiotherapy,” the doctor explained, keeping his voice low as he talked to Ruth in the doorway, “but you mustn't lose hope.”

  “He can't go back to work, though, can he?” she replied.

  He shook his head.

  “The stroke...” She paused. “He's always been such a proud man. I don't know how we're going to manage.”

  Turning, Ruth looked toward the bed, where Alex lay with his head to one side, staring into space as if his mind was filled with a million other ideas. Even as his wife and the doctor stood discussing his rehab options, Alex's thoughts were lost in an aching sense of regret. For him, just as the horrors of the Border had been shut down, they had also become shockingly apparent. Now, finally, he understood the nature of the evil that until that night had only existed at the edge of his perception. All at once, a lifetime of shock had flooded his mind. Somewhere deep inside, he was screaming.

  ***

  “What are you doing up?” Bob asked, stopping in the doorway as soon as he saw Beth sitting on the sofa with her arm around Lucy. The little girl was asleep now, having spent the past few hours listening to her mother telling her that everything was going to be okay.

  “It's complicated,” Beth replied, keeping her voice low.

  “Why's there blood on the kitchen table?” he asked.

  “Complicated.”

  “Why's there blood in the hallway?”

  “Complicated.”

  He paused. “I have nowhere else to go.”

  “No kidding.”

  He looked over at the Christmas tree, which was slowly rotting in the corner by the window. The angel was up there still, its head impaled through on the tree's top. After a moment, he turned back to Beth. “You know how you said you inched across the line toward doing bad things?”

  “That's something of an over-simplification,” she replied, “but yeah, sure. I said that.”

  “Well, I was wondering...” He paused again. “I was wondering if you thought maybe you could inch back? If maybe we could inch back?”

  “How would that work, exactly?” she asked.

  “I don't know.”

  “Neither do I.”

  He took a deep breath. “Can I at least use the spare room for a while? I was going to stay with Tom Lanegan, but the guy's a complete asshole.”

  “He's not the only one.”

  “Can I please use the spare room?” he asked with a sigh. “I know I have no right, but... I can't afford to move into a motel.”

  Beth opened her mouth to tell him to go to hell, before feeling Lucy shift slightly. She waited in case the girl woke up, but after a moment she realized her daughter was sleeping soundly now, which felt like a miracle after the images she'd seen on the phone.

  “You can use the spare room,” she told her husband finally. “After that, we'll just have to wait and see.”

  “That's all I ask.”

  “It's all you'll get.”

  They both waited, each of them assuming it was the other's turn to say something, before Bob took his bag and headed up to the spare room.

  “Everything's going to be fine, sweetheart,” Beth whispered, kissing the top of Lucy's head. “I promise.”

  ***

  “We need to get her into theater!” a nurse shouted, as she and two colleagues carefully lifted Jane onto a trolley. “Get Doctor Sumner! We've got a head injury here!”

  ***

  “What do you mean, leaving?” Mary shouted as she followed her daughter out the front door. “Where the hell do you think you're gonna go? And what the hell happened to you, you look like a complete mess!”

  “I'm getting out of this place,” Katie said firmly, opening the trunk of her car and shoving a couple of hold-alls inside before slamming the trunk shut again and heading to the driver's door. “I've been saving money. I have to get away, I have to get as far from this place as possible.”

  “B
ut -”

  “It's physical!” she shouted, turning to her mother, almost trembling with rage. “It's a physical thing! It's not mental, it's not emotional, I have to physically get away from Bowley or I'm going to lose my mind!” She took a deep breath, feeling a pain in her injured shoulder but determined not to let it show. She'd promised Beth that she'd get it looked at, but she figured she could do that once she hit another town. For now, she felt she had to get away. Her mother knew almost nothing about the previous night's events, and she figured that was how things should stay.

  Taking a deep breath, she turned to look at her car. The low morning sun was casting an orange glow along the street, and for a moment Katie felt a sense of fear at the realization that she had no destination in mind. She was just going to drive away from Bowley and hope that somehow she slotted in somewhere else. At the same time, she knew there was a danger she'd just get lost and run out of money, and then maybe end up slipping through the cracks of life. The fear was invigorating, however, and after a moment she felt a new sense of purpose.

  “You don't seem right,” her mother said finally. “You're worrying me.”

  “I'll call,” Katie replied, with tears in her eyes as she kissed her mother's forehead and then climbed into the driver's seat. “Or email, or something like that. It might take a while before I know where I'm going but...” Pausing, she stared at the road ahead. “I'll find somewhere. Not every place can be like Bowley.” She took a deep breath. “Everything's gonna be fine, Mom. I promise.”

  With that, she pulled the door shut and started the engine. Five minutes later she was speeding along the interstate, trying to work out where exactly she was going to go. As she watched the road ahead, she felt her fear starting to grow, except that it wasn't just fear. There was anger too, and rage and fury. And sorrow. And wonder. And curiosity. And regret. And joy. And something else that didn't even have a name.

  Finally, figuring she could worry about her destination later, she floored the accelerator and screamed.

  ***

  Kicking open the next door, Ben made his way down into the darkness, seeing only a few red lights on the wall ahead. When he got to the bottom of the steps, he looked across the main room of the Border's twentieth level and saw another shape moving in the shadows, twisting as if it was trying to get away. Raising his shotgun, Ben made his way across the room and made short work of the figure, not even looking it in the eye before blasting it. Once he'd checked that there was nothing else around, he headed to the door in the corner and kicked it open, and then he began to make his way down to the Border's twenty-first level.

  High above, hidden in the darkest corner and completely unnoticed, a small camera watched his every move.

  Epilogue

  Twelve years later

  “No, you're a dumbass,” Lucy replied, before taking a sip from her milkshake. Fixing her cousin with a frown, she slowly raised her middle finger in his direction.

  “Oh, you're gonna be so popular when you get to college,” Stuart replied with a grin. “Everyone's gonna love you.”

  Rolling her eyes, Lucy looked across the diner for a moment. A damp Saturday morning had turned into a rainy lunchtime, with a brief downpour having passed through town during the afternoon, and now finally darkness had fallen and brought a wet evening; the rain was gone, but there were puddles all across the parking lot, reflecting the bright lights of the nearby stores. Still, there was no place she'd rather be, especially since she'd be leaving Bowley the following morning, heading off for her first semester at college on the west coast. She was scared, sure, and she knew she'd miss life in Bowley; at the same time, she wanted a little excitement, a little adventure, and she knew she couldn't get what she wanted in her crumby little hometown.

  Bowley was the kind of safe, boring place where nothing ever happened.

  As her cousins Stuart and Oliver continued to talk, Lucy turned and looked over her shoulder. She'd knew she'd miss the regulars at the diner, especially the ones she never talked to but who nevertheless were a constant presence. There was the new owner, who'd really turned the place around and made it the center of Bowley's resurgence; there was Daniel, the editor of the local paper and a guy on whom Lucy had enjoyed a little crush, even though she knew he was too old for her; there was even Mrs. Cook, the town widow. After a moment, however, she spotted old Alex Gordon sitting in the far corner, staring with haunted eyes at his coffee. He'd never been the same since the stroke, and his wife's death a few years earlier had left him a somber, desperately lonely figure. There was something about Alex that always gave Lucy a chill, and she knew she wouldn't miss seeing him around.

  She turned and looked out the window, and suddenly she spotted a familiar figure hurrying past, heading toward the dark office buildings.

  “Hey,” she said, leaning over and tapping Stuart's shoulder. “Isn't that your Mom?”

  Stuart glanced at the window. “So?”

  “So where's she going so late?”

  He shrugged.

  “Mom's an asshole,” Oliver added, with his arm around his girlfriend's waist. “Ever since Alex retired and she took his job, she thinks she's all that.”

  Ignoring her cousins, Lucy got to her feet and carried her milkshake to the door. She stepped out onto the steps and watched as the dark figure got further and further away, and then she thought for a moment about the date, and then finally she realized.

  “She's going to see him,” she whispered.

  Hurrying down the steps, she made her way across the dark parking lot, taking care to avoid the puddles of rainwater. When she got to the far side, she could see Jane slipping through the shadows in front of the office building, and she thought for a moment to call out to her aunt before realizing that there'd be no point; she'd asked Jane so many times about what was really happening beneath the streets of Bowley, and every time she'd been fobbed off with a non-answer. Now, on her very last night in town before heading off to her new life, she figured she needed to be a little sneakier, so she finished the last of her milkshake, tossed the cup into a nearby trashcan, and then hurried after Jane, while making sure to keep far enough back that she wouldn't be spotted.

  A few minutes later, she watched as Jane unlocked the door to the abandoned building and stepped inside. After a moment, seeing that her aunt hadn't switched on the lights, Lucy hurried over and slipped through the door herself, at which point she could see Jane at the far end of the corridor, stepping into a side-room.

  With her heart in her mouth, Lucy knew what was about to happen.

  She made her way carefully along the corridor, keeping deathly quiet until she stopped outside the door. Peering through, she saw Jane setting a backpack on the desk and starting to pull things out.

  And then, slowly, the door in the far corner began to swing open.

  Lucy held her breath.

  Ben stepped into the room, gaunt and old now, looking more tired than Lucy had ever thought possible. His hair was gray and he was painfully thin, and the bags under his eyes had their own bags, reaching almost all the way down his cheeks to his mouth. Without saying anything, he set a shotgun on the desk and glanced at Jane, who hadn't even acknowledged him yet as she continued to set out various Tupperware pots from her backpack. There was something businesslike about the whole situation, as if they'd done it many, maybe times before.

  Holding her breaths so as not to be heard, Lucy waited.

  “So, then,” Ben said finally, his voice sounding harsh and little-used. “How's tricks?”

  “I brought you some extra this time,” Jane replied, still not looking at him, still focused on the pots. “Lots of vitamin pills, lots of nutrient bars, lots of freeze-dried fruit and -”

  “That's great,” he said, interrupting her. “What about the important stuff? What about ammunition?”

  She took a case of bullets out of the backpack. “I've found a new supplier,” she explained. “He's cheaper and he doesn't ask questions. I'll be l
eaving two cases here every month, as usual.”

  Opening the case, Ben looked down at the bullets. “I'm sure they'll be great.”

  “There's really nothing much to report,” Jane continued. “Lucy's off to college tomorrow. Stuart's still working at the garage, although he's looking to start his own business, and Oliver's thinking of going to do some post-grad work but he hasn't really decided yet. Beth and Bob have switched marriage counselors again, apparently Bob thought the last one was making eyes at Beth and he insisted they get someone new. I don't know, maybe it'll work out this time and -”

  Suddenly she looked toward the door, as if she'd heard something.

  Lucy stepped back and waited.

  “Please don't have seen me,” she thought to herself. “Please...”

  “Your Mom's doing better,” Jane added after a moment. “They're gonna put off thinking about the hospice for a while. She's making a hell of a fuss about it, but I managed to talk her into making the right decision. Your father -”

  “Don't care,” Ben said firmly.

  “Ben, your father -”

  “Don't care.”

  “He died.”

  Lucy listened to the silence. She wanted to peer around the side of the door and see Ben's face, but she knew she couldn't risk getting caught.

  “Heart attack,” Jane continued. “I don't think you want to know how he was found. Let's just say that he died doing what he loved most.”

  “Well,” Ben said finally, wiping his hand against his dry mouth, “I guess there was a funeral.”

  “There was.”

  “Did lots of people show up? Did the old man get a decent send-off?”

  “Quite a few, actually. I was surprised.”

  “That's good. That's... appropriate, I guess.”

  “You know, he's buried nearby if you want to -”

  “I don't have time.”

  “You could make time,” she replied. “Ben, seriously, it's been twelve years now, you can't possibly still be finding new levels to that place.”

  “Can't I?”

  “How far down can it go? I mean, there have to be limits. How many levels can there be?”