The Last Weekend

by Julie Morrigan

  ‘Poor bugger,’ said Indigo.

  DeadManWalking picked Technogeek’s declaration up again. ‘He wanted Reaperman to inject him with lethal drugs,’ he said, reading it. ‘Same as me, in that respect.’

  ‘And me,’ said Indigo. ‘Most of us, probably.’

  ‘Not me,’ said SpeedKing. Faces turned to him. ‘I wanted him to shoot me in the head with a crossbow.’ He took in the stunned expressions, then shook his head. ‘Only kidding!’

  JacktheRiffer laughed, and the others joined in, the break in the tension welcome.

  Once the laughter had died down, BlackWidow touched the laptop.

  ‘Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?’ she said. ‘All those choices, all those little forks in the road. All bringing us inexorably towards this moment.’

  ‘Do you think there’s another version of this where we all die?’ asked Monkeyboy.

  ‘We might all die in this one yet,’ said DeadManWalking. He took in their expressions. ‘I’m sorry, I love this bonding ritual as much as the next man, but we’ve got to face facts. Just because we’re letting the mask slip doesn’t mean we’re suddenly safe.’ He looked at his watch. ‘It’s getting late. I, for one, need to get some sleep.’

  ‘Should we all sleep down here?’ asked Monkeyboy.

  ‘I’d rather lock myself in my room,’ said DeadManWalking. ‘Sleep in a bed, be able to go to the toilet without a bloody escort.’

  ‘What about everyone else?’

  ‘We’ll stay in my room,’ said Indigo, his arm round Mayfly.

  ‘Why not mine?’ she said. ‘I’ve got more stuff, it’d be quicker to pack yours up.’

  ‘True, but I’d as soon not be in the room next to Scaredycat.’

  Mayfly shivered. ‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ she said. ‘Poor kid.’

  ‘At least we know where she is and what happened to her,’ said JacktheRiffer. ‘Reaperman and Technogeek could be anywhere.’

  JunkieScum shuddered.

  ‘Come on, then,’ said Mayfly, ‘let’s get my stuff moved.’

  ‘Hold it a moment,’ said BlackWidow. ‘Let’s be clear on what everyone is doing. You’re moving in with Indigo.’

  Mayfly nodded.

  What about you, honey?’ she said to JunkieScum.

  JunkieScum looked at JacktheRiffer. ‘Is it all right if—?’

  He nodded. ‘Of course.’

  ‘DeadManWalking, you’re going to your room. On your own, I take it?’

  ‘Of course, on my own. We come into this world alone and we leave it that way, as well.’ He turned away, his mouth set in a grim line.

  ‘I’ll be in my room alone, too.’ She turned to SpeedKing and Monkeyboy. ‘So, what about you boys?’

  ‘Own rooms, I think,’ said SpeedKing. Monkeyboy nodded.

  ‘Does anyone object if I take all these keys?’ said BlackWidow, indicating the pile on the table. ‘I’m guessing that having collected them, we don’t want to just leave them lying around.’

  ‘Good call,’ said Indigo.

  BlackWidow piled all the keys bar one into her handbag. She held the remaining key up. ‘This is the front door key. I’ll put this in the pocket on the front of my bag to keep it separate.’

  The others nodded.

  ‘Right, that’s all settled then. Let’s go, shall we?’

  Before long people had been variously escorted to rooms, after which they locked their doors and settled down for the night.

  Chapter 27

  ‘Well,’ said JunkieScum, looking at JacktheRiffer across the bed, ‘what will we do now?’

  He smiled. ‘Come here,’ he said, moving around the bed towards her. He held his arms open and she stepped into them. They embraced for a long moment, enjoying the contact, then broke apart.

  ‘It’s been a long time,’ said JunkieScum. ‘Since I … you know.’

  ‘I know. And there’s no pressure, and there’s no hurry. We’ve got all the time in the world.’ She shot him a grateful smile. ‘Kick your shoes off,’ he said, and they both did. ‘And now come here.’ He led her to the bed and climbed on, lay on the cover fully clothed. She lay down beside him. ‘Lift up?’ She lifted her head and he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. She snuggled in, her head on his chest. ‘Better?’ he asked.

  ‘Perfect.’ JunkieScum wrapped an arm around him.

  ‘So, what brings a girl like you to a weekend like this?’ he said.

  ‘Life. I seem to fuck up at every turn.’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘My first mistake was getting into drugs and not being able to handle it. I was on a downward spiral for years. My family disowned me.’ She was leaving out more than she was telling. There were things she just didn’t want to get into there and then, especially not the part about the baby. ‘Then I got myself sorted out.’

  ‘What changed?’

  ‘I met someone.’

  ‘Where is he now?’

  ‘He was killed in an accident. He was walking down the street and some masonry from a building that was due to be demolished fell on him.’

  ‘Man, that’s the worst luck. What an awful thing to happen.’

  She nodded. ‘It was horrible. He went out to work as usual one morning and just never came home. I was devastated.’

  ‘I’ll bet. How did you cope?’

  ‘Not too well, but I managed not to start using again. I more or less held it together.’ She sighed. ‘I felt I had nothing to live for and the voice in my head kept telling me I should kill myself. You know the voice?’

  ‘Only too well, love.’

  ‘I hung on, though, because I thought, in time, I’d get past the pain and be able to carry on. I’d done it before. Pulled back from the brink.’

  ‘I’m guessing you didn’t, though.’

  ‘No, I didn’t. Then I saw the ad for this. It seemed preordained, you know?’

  ‘Yeah, I know,’ said JacktheRiffer. He held her close, heard her breathing start to slow, and stifled a yawn. Five minutes later, they were both asleep.

  ***

  Mayfly and Indigo had moved her things into his room, to put a bit of space between them and poor, dead Scaredycat – Tracey Thomson, as the rest of the world had known her. Indigo sorted music out while Mayfly lit some candles, then they stripped down to their underwear and climbed into bed.

  ‘Thank God I’m not alone,’ Mayfly whispered.

  Further along the corridor, each safely locked into their respective rooms, SpeedKing, Monkeyboy, BlackWidow and DeadManWalking drifted off to sleep, although the latter had set an alarm on his watch for a specific hour.

  ***

  Early in the morning, something woke JunkieScum up. She listened: silence. I’m just jumpy, she reasoned. There was nothing to hear, nothing going on, and it was not at all surprising that she might have had a bad dream. Christ, this whole weekend had turned into a bad dream, all except for the part where she had met John. John Pargeter. JacktheRiffer. She watched him sleeping, smiled to see his head on the pillow next to hers, then he woke up and reached for her.

  Chapter 28

  Next time JacktheRiffer awoke, he was warm and relaxed, more content than he had felt in years, and it was morning. He reached out for JunkieScum and was disappointed when she wasn’t there. He figured she must be in the bathroom, so settled down to wait for her to come back. He wanted to lose himself in her, he wanted to start thinking about the future, a future that had her in it. One that was built around her. Christ, he hadn’t realised just how lonely he had been and for how long. Things were about to change. He slipped out of bed and tapped on the bathroom door.

  ‘Hey? You there, love?’ When there was no answer, he tried the door handle. The door wasn’t locked and when it opened, he saw the room was empty. JacktheRiffer scratched his head. He couldn’t think of any reason why she would leave the room on her own, and yet she very definitely wasn’t there. He was worried sick; he pulled on some clothes and unlocked the bedroom do
or. There was no sign of anyone, so he headed along to Indigo’s room and rapped on the door.

  ‘Indigo! Mayfly! You in there, guys?’

  ‘Yeah, we’re here. Hang on a minute.’ After a slight pause, Indigo appeared at the door, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. ‘What’s up, mate?’

  ‘It’s Caz. JunkieScum. She’s gone.’

  ‘Gone where?’

  ‘I don’t know. I went to sleep and she was lying next to me. I woke up and she just wasn’t there.’

  ‘Shit, that’s not good. Come on in. I’ll get dressed and help you search for her.’

  Indigo dressed quickly. ‘Lock the door behind us when we go to search,’ he told Mayfly. ‘Don’t open it to anybody but me.’

  ‘You must be kidding! I’m not staying here on my own; I’m coming with you.’ She wrapped herself in a sheet, picked up some clothes and disappeared into the bathroom to dress.

  Fifteen minutes later, the three of them had searched JunkieScum’s room and the communal areas and found absolutely nothing. As impossible as it seemed, and unless she was in someone else’s bedroom, JunkieScum had simply vanished into thin air.

  ‘I just don’t see how it could have happened,’ JacktheRiffer said, pacing the hallway outside of his room. ‘She was right there beside me when I went to sleep, then, when I woke up, she was gone. The door was still locked from the inside and the key was on the bedside table, so I just don’t get how she got out. Unless she shinned down the drainpipe … but the window was locked, too. Christ, Indi, what’s happened to her? Where’s she got to?’

  Indigo didn’t want to speculate. ‘Let’s all take a good look around inside your room,’ he suggested, ‘see if there’s anything at all you might have missed.’

  ‘I honestly don’t think there’s anything to see, but sure, come on in.’ He unlocked the door.

  Indigo checked the obvious places: under the bed, in the wardrobe, and, after his earlier experiences, behind the bathroom mirror and in the toilet cistern. There was nothing. He sat down on the bed.

  ‘So, what happened with you two last night?’

  ‘Come on, dude. What do you think?’

  ‘I don’t mean to pry, I just want to know if anything out of the ordinary went on.’

  JacktheRiffer took a breath, pursed his lips and blew air. ‘We just were together at first, you know? Kicked off our shoes and lay on the bed. Held each other. We fell asleep together.’ He remembered how fragile she had felt in his arms, how her bones were fine and delicate with little to either cover or otherwise protect them. How very narrow her neck was. How sharp her jawline and hollow her cheeks. How tiny she was. How vulnerable. How he had meant to protect her, had told her he would look out for her. He choked back tears, turned it into a cough. ‘Then we woke up later and … she was special, man. She was … I … fuck, man, Indigo, you know how it is!’

  Indigo put his hand on JacktheRiffer’s shoulder. ‘I know, mate,’ he said, thinking of Emily, gazing at Mayfly. ‘I know. Come on, let’s go and get the others.’

  Downstairs, in the front sitting room, they met up with SpeedKing and Monkeyboy, and Indigo quickly filled them in on what had happened.

  ***

  JunkieScum was in the attic, gagged and tied to the same chair Technogeek had occupied the day before. There was a man in the room with her, dressed in black from head to toe, including his balaclava. He was staring at her.

  ‘I know your story,’ he said. ‘I listened to your interview. You really are a piece of work. You dirty fucking slut.’

  She strained against the ties that bound her in place, but they were sound.

  ‘Baby killer,’ he said, and he ripped her belly open with a hunting knife.

  She tried to scream, but managed only to utter a feral wail, and watched, horrified, as her intestines spilled out onto her legs and slid to the floor. She looked back at the man. He ripped off his balaclava, but she didn’t recognise him. The last thing she saw before her eyes dimmed was his manic grin, and her last thought was the realisation that he was very much enjoying himself.

  Chapter 29

  ‘You’re something of a jinx, mate, it has to be said,’ observed Monkeyboy.

  JacktheRiffer looked at him in amazement. ‘What the fuck do you mean?’

  ‘What I mean is this. Weren’t you the one who was around when Indigo was almost grabbed? That was in an enclosed space. Now this. Also an enclosed space, just the two of you.’

  ‘Indigo was in the cubicle with the hatch in the ceiling. Did I go in there with him? No! I didn’t! Was I the one trying to lasso him from above? No! I wasn’t!’ He turned away, ran a hand through his hair. ‘Anyway,’ he said to Monkeyboy, ‘what about you? Technogeek was right behind you when he disappeared. Was it you? Did you do something to him?’

  ‘Did I …? Of course not! Stop trying to deflect attention from yourself!’

  ‘For fuck’s sake, guys!’ shouted Indigo. ‘We’re getting picked off one by one, what chance have we got if we turn on each other?’

  ‘You’re right,’ said JacktheRiffer. He took a breath and tried to calm down. ‘Caz – JunkieScum – has gone missing. I was just getting to know her properly and now she’s gone. Now, are you going to help me find her or not?’

  ‘What did you find in his room, Indigo?’ asked Monkeyboy.

  ‘Nothing out of the ordinary. Unless I missed something, as well.’

  ‘Please,’ said JacktheRiffer, ‘let’s go and search again. All of us. Whatever it takes.’

  ‘Okay,’ said Indigo, ‘but we need to get BlackWidow and DeadManWalking. They’re still in their rooms. We need to let them know what’s happened and, as far as possible, we all need to stay together.’

  ‘I’ll go and get them,’ said SpeedKing.

  ‘Not on your own.’

  ‘I’ll go with him,’ said Mayfly.

  They all marched back up the stairs. Mayfly and SpeedKing headed off in one direction and JacktheRiffer, Indigo, and Monkeyboy went into the room JunkieScum had disappeared from. They poked about, looking into drawers and cupboards, under the bed and in the shower cubicle. And found nothing. Finally, in sheer frustration, Indigo banged his fist against the dividing wall between that room and the one next door. It sounded hollow.

  ‘Who’s in next door?’ he asked.

  ‘No one. It was Technogeek’s room,’ said JacktheRiffer. ‘Why?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Indigo pressed and prodded the wall. It felt odd, in certain places it had some give to it. It reminded him of the concealed door in the kitchen, and when he looked closely, he saw a faint line in the patterned paper on the wall. He put his fingers to it and realised he could fit his fingernails into what was a barely perceptible gap.

  ‘There’s a door here,’ he said, as his eyes traced the outline of the fracture.

  ‘What? What door, where?’ said JacktheRiffer.

  ‘Look,’ said Indigo, showing them the gap, ‘The wallpaper disguises it, but it’s there, all right, right down and into the skirting board.’

  He kept on pressing and probing, and eventually he hit a certain spot in a particular way and a section of the wall clicked free. He swung it back to reveal, not the room next door, but a narrow passageway between the two. ‘Look at that,’ he exclaimed. ‘Holy fuck!’

  ‘Oh, fuck!’ said JacktheRiffer. ‘He took her. The killer. He crept in and took her from me while I slept.’

  He slid down the wall and buried his face in his hands. Indigo squatted down next to him and put an arm around his shoulders.

  ‘Come on, mate,’ he said, ‘let’s see what’s through there. She might be down that passageway, she might not, we just don’t know. But if she is, she’s going to want to see you. Come on.’

  JacktheRiffer pulled himself together and got to his feet. Indigo led the way into the space that had opened up. Just inside the doorway he found a light switch, which he flicked on. The corridor flooded with dim yellow light, just enough to see by.

  �
��Wait,’ Indigo said, just a couple of steps down the corridor, ‘there’s something here.’ He bent down and picked up a cloth lying on the floor, sniffed it and recoiled. ‘Well, that’s why she didn’t make a commotion,’ he told them. ‘I don’t know exactly what this is, but I reckon it’s powerful enough to knock a person out.’

  ‘I wonder if that’s why I slept through it all, as well,’ said JacktheRiffer. ‘I might have got just enough of a whiff to keep me comatose.’

  Indigo pocketed the cloth and they moved on. A few steps later, they came to a staircase leading up. To the right of that, another flight of stairs led down.

  ‘I’ll bet they go down to the basement,’ said Indigo.

  ‘Which way do we go – up or down?’ said Monkeyboy.

  ‘Up,’ said Indigo. ‘Unless things have changed in the past few hours, all that other staircase leads to is a locked door.’

  They climbed, and soon reached a small landing where the staircase doubled back on itself, then headed further up into the house. ‘This must be the second floor,’ said Indigo. ‘I think this must be hidden in between the storage room wall and one of the bedroom walls.’

  They continued to climb. At the top of the stairs was a landing, and a door. By Indigo’s calculations, they were now at the level of the attic rooms, on the third floor. He remembered SpeedKing saying he’d seen the windows, remembered the button for ‘3’ in the lift – which, like the button marked ‘B’, had needed a key to operate – and cursed them for searching so tentatively, for not trying harder to find a way to reach the attic, for not more thoroughly exploring the house and grounds. Fear. That’s what had stopped them. They were all too scared to dig too deep. Well, scared or not, they were searching now. He opened the door and stepped through.