I was worried.
‘How does she know?’
‘She’s been speaking to some survivors from the Tall Man’s farm. They’ve just been let in through the gate. They told her all about us and his baby, and Amber shooting her cousin and everything else we did.’
Abe looked back at the door.
‘They’re on their way now. We’ve got to get out of here.’
‘Where?’ I said. ‘Where can we get out of here?’
‘The tunnels,’ said Florence. ‘It’s our only hope.’
That was a terrible idea. I didn’t like that at all.
‘But it’s dark down there. It looks really dangerous.’
Abe looked at me.
‘It doesn’t look much safer up here,’ he said.
Amber was sensible. She held my hand.
‘Abe’s right, Jake. We have to get away and down there is our only choice. We’ll find somewhere to hide and wait for them to stop looking for us.’
I wasn’t happy with this.
‘They won’t stop looking, will they? They want us now and won’t stop until they find us.’
Ellis nodded. She was worried about her brother.
‘What about Vinnie? We can’t leave him behind.’
‘We won’t,’ said Amber. ‘We’ll hide down there until they look for us elsewhere or we find another way to get to Vinnie.’
Amber looked at Ellis. She was being strong.
‘I promise we won’t leave Vinnie behind,’ she said. ‘I promise.’
Ellis nodded. So did I.
‘We only have us now,’ I said. ‘We will get Vinnie back.’
Ellis didn’t speak. She knew we were right. Abe opened the door in the floor.
‘This way,’ he said. ‘I’ll go first.’
Abe climbed down the hole and someone started banging on the door. It was a hammer or something heavy.
‘We know you’re in there,’ Keith said. His voice was loud. ‘There’s no hiding from us now. We’ve got big plans for all you little shits.’
‘Quick,’ I said to Florence and Ellis. ‘Go next. Then you, Amber.’
Florence and Ellis went down the hole. Amber followed them. She looked at me.
‘Come on, Jake. Hurry up.’
I stood still. It was all happening quick. I didn’t know how to be like this. I couldn’t act.
‘Quick, Jake. We’ve got to get out of here.’
A hole in the door broke open. An arm came through the hole. To grab the lock. Baxter jumped at the arm. He was growling and wouldn’t let go. I ran to the hole. I went down the ladder. I shouted above my head.
‘Come on, Baxter. We have to go.’
I heard a man shouting. Baxter was barking. The door opened. Someone fired a gun. Baxter cried. I fell down the rest of the ladder. Ellis pulled my arm.
‘Come on, Jake.’
Dark
I couldn’t see very well. It was dark and stinky. My leg hurt when I fell down the ladder. We were in a wet tunnel. I could hear someone laughing up above us.
‘You know what,’ said a voice. ‘Let’s just leave them down there for now. They’re too dumb to find their own way out.’
‘Yeah,’ said Keith. ‘They’ll keep until McKenzie is ready for them.
The trapdoor clanged shut. There was no light anymore. We were trapped.
Ellis pulled me along for a while. I wasn’t really looking. Florence, Amber and Abe were ahead of me. The tunnel was curved and my feet got wet. We had to duck down slightly. I had no ideas about what we should do. Then we stopped walking.
‘Is everyone alright?’ Ellis said.
‘We are,’ Amber said.
‘Me too,’ said Florence.
I was not alright. I was very sad.
‘Baxter got shot,’ I said. ‘That man shot Baxter.’
‘Are you sure?’ said Ellis.
‘I heard the gun. Then Baxter cried. He might be dead now.’
Amber held my hand.
‘I know you’re worried, Jake, but Baxter might be fine. The gun could have missed him. He could have been hurt another way.’
I didn’t think so. I heard Baxter get hurt. He needed me now and I wasn’t with him.
‘I shouldn’t have left him behind.’
‘You had to, Jake,’ said Ellis. ‘He was trying to protect you. He gave you the chance to escape.’
‘I should have brought him with me. I was mean and now Baxter’s dead.’
‘Listen, Jake,’ said Abe. ‘You don’t know what happened to him. You think you know but really you don’t. He could be fine.’
‘In any case,’ said Amber, ‘Baxter stopped you from being shot. He saved your life.’
‘But I didn’t save his.’
I was so sad. It was just more bad things. More. More. More. One on top of the other. Just piled up to the sky and higher. There would never ever be anything good again. Never. I should have got shot. It would feel better than this. It was better to die now. To stop feeling all this sad. Ellis must have heard me thinking.
‘We’ve got to keep going, Jake. We can’t give up now.’
She gave me a hug. It felt a little bit better. Only a little. Abe said something but he wasn’t angry.
‘We have got to find a way out of here. I’m guessing that there’s an exit somewhere but it is probably locked and they have the key. That’s why they’re not coming down looking for us. They must think that they have us trapped.’
Amber laughed.
‘People always underestimate us. We always prove them wrong.’
‘Exactly,’ said Abe. ‘So that’s why we need to find another way out. Tunnels like these would have exits everywhere. They would have been no use to the smugglers if there was only one way in and out. There must be a ladder somewhere that will bring us back up into another part of the camp.’
Rats
There was a squeaky noise up ahead of us. A loud squeaky noise. I listened. It was lots of little voices. It was evil singing. They sounded very horrible. Ellis groaned.
‘Rats,’ she said, ‘and I don’t have my catapult with me.’
‘We’ll have to ignore them,’ said Amber. ‘They won’t want anything to do with us.’
‘Are you sure?’ I said. ‘What if they want to eat us?’
We crept slowly along. I saw lots of tiny eyes all in one place. I could smell rusty apples. My eyes could almost see the rats. I went against the wall. The smell got really bad.
‘Oh my God,’ said Florence. ‘They’re eating someone.’
Florence was right. The rats were running all over a body. I couldn’t see a head but I knew that the rats would be eating the eyeballs. They always did. And climbing out the mouth. I knew it would be like in the stories I had read. With their long tails and tiny teeth. They would be eating the body all over.
A fly landed in my mouth. I spat it out. Then another. The air filled with them. Buzzing all over. They got in my eyes and hair. Everyone started waving the flies away.
We were trapped in a dark tunnel with rats eating a body and flies attacking us. I could feel a panic. My mind started to get narrow. I didn’t have the right thoughts. I screamed. My voice was not part of me. I sounded long and loud. My scream made the rats scared. They started to run everywhere. But my scream didn’t scare the flies. They kept flying in my face. Someone pulled my arm. It was Ellis.
‘Jake,’ she said. ‘It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.’
I let Ellis pull me along. She followed the others. The rats were behind us. And the flies. Ellis pulled me strongly. The tunnel was still ahead of us. I couldn’t see where we were going. My feet just followed themselves. One at a time and then the next. Again and again.
Leeches
The tunnel got low and we had to crouch. It was hard to walk. My back rubbed against the top of the tunnel. It was wet. Something dripped down my neck. I shivered. I thought it might be leeches or maggots.
‘I’ve got a leech on my neck,’
I said. ‘It’s going to eat all my blood.’
Ellis was kind.
‘Jake,’ she said, ‘you don’t have a leech. It was just a drip of water from the tunnel.’
‘Are you sure? I’ve seen films where people get covered in leeches. I don’t have a big knife to pick them off me.’
‘It’s fine, Jake. Take a breath and relax. We’re going to be alright.’
‘What about Baxter?’
Ellis didn’t say for a second. Amber spoke to me.
‘We don’t know, Jake. Baxter might be okay. The bullet might have missed him.’
‘But I heard him crying.’
‘We all did, Jake. I’m not saying that he’s not hurt but he might still be alive.’
‘I suppose.’
I didn’t know. He was a great dog. I loved him. I wanted him to be my friend forever. I wanted to reach Ellis’s farm with him so that he could play in the fields while I ate my lunch on the tree with Ellis and Vinnie. He had to be alive.
‘He’s coming to the farm with us.’
‘I hope so,’ said Abe. ‘I hope he is.’
Abe was kind as well. Perhaps we could be good friends again? I wanted no more fighting with him. I wanted to be friends with him and with Ellis. I wanted lots of things. Why couldn’t I have them? There had to be a chance for some good things. It couldn’t only be bad forever more.
Everyone stopped walking. I bumped into Ellis.
‘Sorry.’
‘It’s fine, Jake.’
Amber was excited.
‘I think we’ve found something. Wait here while I take a look.’
We crouched in the tunnel. It felt like a long time. It felt like all the world’s time had stopped ticking. Then Amber came back. She sounded happy.
‘I think we’ve found a way out of here.’
Grate
Some small steps led up to a small room. There was a small hole in the ceiling. It had metal bars. The light was better. I could see more. Amber pointed up.
‘This grate will probably lead us back into the camp. I reckon we could manage to move it between us.’
It was hard work. First Abe got on my shoulders. He reached up and wobbled the metal.
‘It is really stuck,’ he said. ‘This is impossible.’
‘We’ve got to make it possible,’ said Amber. ‘This is our only way out of here.’
Abe tried for a long time. My shoulders burned. I didn’t complain. I was strong for my friends. Finally, Abe stopped.
‘Someone else have a go,’ he said. ‘I can’t get it to move at all.’
I got on Abe’s shoulders and reached up. I pulled the grate. It was stuck. I pulled it again. I pulled harder this time. It was still stuck.
‘Abe is right. This thing is stuck.’
‘Keep trying, Jake,’ said Florence. ‘I know you can do it.’
I kept trying. I didn’t know. I didn’t think. I pushed the grate instead of pulling. It moved. I pushed it again. The grate moved.
‘You have to push,’ I said. ‘You have to push not pull.’
The grate was heavy metal. I pushed it up. Dirt fell in my eye. I kept pushing. Dirt fell on Abe.
‘Mind my head, Jake.’
‘Sorry, Abe. I think I’ve nearly got it.’
I got a good push in my arms. The grate lifted on one side. I was able to twist it. I pushed again. It got higher. The grate was so heavy but I moved it around. I put my fingers through the gap. I pushed as hard as I could. The grate twisted in my hand. It was leaning up. I pushed and twisted. The grate wobbled.
‘Look out, Abe. It’s coming down.’
The grate fell out the hole. Abe shouted. I fell of his shoulders. We landed on the floor. The grate made a loud clang. We all waited. I held my breath. Abe groaned.
‘Lucky that wasn’t my head,’ he said. ‘That could have been really bad.’
‘Are you ok?’ I said.
Abe smiled. It was nice to see in the dark light. I felt better.
‘I’m fine, Jake. Well done for getting the grate out.’
‘Thanks, Abe. I found out to push and not pull. I had to twist it in the hole but it worked.’
‘And now we can go and rescue Vinnie,’ said Ellis. ‘Well done to both of you.’
Drain
Abe went first. He stood on my shoulders and climbed up. In the dimness it looked like the hole ate Abe. His legs disappeared. We waited behind. No one said anything. We all just looked at the hole. I listened to see if I could hear anything. I could only hear my breathing. It sounded really loud. I didn’t like the sound. People breathed loud when they panicked. I wasn’t panicked. I was confused. I felt good about the hole. I felt bad about Baxter.
Baxter was my best friend and I let him die. Perhaps I should have left him in the car? That might have been better. Ever since he was with me all I did was make his life miserable. We just ran from place to place. We had no fun. We were always hungry. Always scared. We were always meeting horrible people. What sort of life was that for a dog?
Abe stuck his head down the hole.
‘We’ve found a way out,’ he said. ‘It’s not going to be easy but I think we can make it. This is a storm drain that leads to a rusty grate. I’ve managed to move the grate enough for us to squeeze through. Beyond that, there is some kind of waste ground. I waited but I didn’t see anyone. Its dark outside so I think it’s safe for us to climb up now.’
Florence went first. We helped her up by holding her legs. Abe grabbed her arms and she crawled up. It was tight but she got past him.
‘Crawl out the grate,’ said Abe, ‘and find somewhere safe to hide while you wait for us.’
Ellis was next. I boosted her legs. She pulled herself up. Amber did the same. They both followed Florence. I didn’t know how to get up.
‘Jump up, Jake,’ Abe said. ‘Jump up and I’ll grab your arms.’
I jumped up three times. Each time Abe grabbed my hands but he couldn’t hold them. I stopped.
‘I can’t do it. I can’t get up.’
Abe was sorry.
‘I’ll try harder, Jake. Jump up again.’
I shook my head.
‘No. You go with them. I’ll go back the way we came. The door might be open. I need to get Baxter.’
Abe didn’t like my plan.
‘We should stick together, Jake. I don’t want you down here alone.’
‘I’m fine, Abe. Look after the others. We’ll meet up outside.’
I turned back to the steps.
Sick
The tunnel was dark. I walked slowly. It seemed harder alone. I didn’t like being here. I had to be brave. I needed to see Baxter. He had to be well. He couldn’t be dead. I felt bad to leave him. We had to run. They were trying to get us. Baxter was brave. He saved us.
I saved him first.
He saved me.
I had to save him again.
The rats were back on the body. And the flies. The noise was so scary. I had to get past. The flies filled my face. I couldn’t breathe. I kept going. My foot kicked something. It was an arm or a rat. I didn’t know. I couldn’t see.
My nose was full of stench. It was so sweet in such a bad way. I felt some sick come into my mouth. It burned my throat. I bent over. The sick came out my nose. It got all over my hands. My belly felt like bursting. I kept sicking. How could so much stuff come out? My body shook. My ribs squashed together. My foot slipped.
It was later. I was laying down. My head really hurt. I couldn’t see. My hand felt something move. Other things were crawling all over me. Rats. I screamed as their tiny feet trod on me. This was real horror stuff.
It was hard to stand up. I had to reach out my arms. I felt something soggy. It was the dead person. They felt all springy. I got on my elbows. The rats fell off me. They were squeaking so angry. One rat got stuck in my shirt. It was crawling down my neck. I tried to grab it. The rat wriggled. Its tail was in my mouth. I pulled it out. The rat squeaked. I crushed it in my ha
nd. The rat’s body broke through my fingers. I threw the dirty thing far away.
I stood up. I felt all shaky. The rats ran over my feet. The flies licked my sick. I wiped my face with sleeve. I rubbed my hands on my jeans. I smelled really bad. I stood on another rat. I heard the head burst. The rats ran under me as I walked away. Then they left me alone. The soggy dead body was better to eat than me. I left them to their lunch.
Quiet
I sneaked back to the ladder. I kept listening. There was no sound above me. I heard no one saying. I had to wait. They could be hiding. They could be ready to get me. A gun could be pointing at the trapdoor.
It was hard to wait. I held the ladder. I felt really bad. My head hurt. I smelled nasty. My face was sticky.
I was worried about Baxter. I thought he was dead. It was my fault. I didn’t try to save him. I helped them kill him. I was a coward.
What if they killed me? They would throw me back down here. The rats and flies would find me. They would eat me forever. My body would stink like that other one. No one would ever find me. Mum would never know what happened.
I couldn’t stay down here. I had to go. I pressed my ear to the trapdoor. I listened. Nothing. I waited. The trapdoor might be hard to hear through. In my head they were standing up there waiting. They had guns pointed at the trapdoor. They were ready.
But my head felt wrong. How long had we been down here? Would they just stand there waiting all that time? They might look elsewhere for us. I had to find out.
I pushed the trapdoor a little bit. It moved. It wasn’t locked. No one shouted. I pushed it again. A tiny push. My heart pumped. I sweated. This was so scary. But I had to get out. I pushed again. There was a crack now. Light was around the edge. Anyone outside would see the moving. They would hear it. I shut my eyes and pushed again.
The door crashed open. The sound was so loud. It was too late. I waited to be shot.
Nothing happened.
I opened my eyes. The room was dark. There was no one here. I looked around. There was something by the door.
Viro (Book 3): Viro Page 4