by Teri Terry
“Well, if it isn’t my Sharona.” He hums a little, then groans again.
It’s Duncan.
CHAPTER 13
CALLIE
SOMETHING ISN’T RIGHT.
I’d thought Shay was wrong to not do what Mum and Kai wanted, that she should have told the army she’s a survivor and gone back to Newcastle with Kai. But now I’m not so sure.
There’s something about these men.
When Lizzie tells them what street Shay and Jamie are checking, they don’t wait. They go to find her. The one in charge, and two with him. The other—the one who was here before—stays to help Lizzie and Kai.
They drive to the street where Jamie and Shay are supposed to be, and I go with them. But the truck isn’t there.
“Has she been tipped off somehow? We can’t let her get away. We should have brought more men.”
They have guns inside the jeep—serious-looking guns.
“She’s just one girl. She has nowhere to go. She can’t get past the roadblocks, can she? They’re already under instructions to hold her if she shows up at one.”
“Don’t forget, she’s not just a girl. If she’s worked things out, she could be dangerous.”
“We’ll get her, one way or the other.”
“Let’s head back to the park for now. Maybe we missed them and they’ve gone back there.”
I sweep up into the air, looking for Shay, and the truck she and Jamie left in.
No sign.
CHAPTER 14
SHAY
WE PULL UP IN FRONT of Lizzie’s tent. Because I think I should, I try to help Duncan out of the truck. He shrugs me off. He can walk, he says, and follows behind me.
Jamie drives the truck and the rest of its contents to the tennis court and the waiting fire.
A soldier approaches—the one we spoke to when we arrived yesterday—Kai next to him. But they all left, didn’t they? I look quickly between the two of them.
“Did you come back to help us?” I ask the soldier.
There is guilt, quickly suppressed. He sighs. “I’m sorry, but no. I came to guide a contingent from SAR. They came to find you. They’re out looking for you now but should be back soon.”
I glare at Kai, but he holds out his hands—a gesture of surrender. “Mum must have told the army.”
“What is SAR?”
“Special Alternatives Regiment,” the soldier says, and shrugs. “The name is all I know about them.”
There is a dark blur in the air, and Callie suddenly appears next to Kai. Shay, you have to hide! She’s radiating alarm.
Why?
The others that came aren’t like normal soldiers. There’s something wrong about them. They’ve got guns, and they said you could be dangerous. And something about getting you one way or the other.
What?
“Excuse me for interrupting, but remember me—the guy who’s dying?”
Kai turns and really looks at who stands next to me this time, then recoils. “Duncan? You’re helping Duncan?”
“Of course.” I help Duncan walk into the tent—this time, he lets me and leans on my arm. A wave of pain is washing through him, but somehow he manages to keep going.
“Who’s your friend?” Duncan gasps out between clenched teeth.
“Kai. You met him before.”
“The meathead who beat me up I remember. I mean her.”
He gestures at Callie, and I’m shocked. He can see her too?
But Callie ignores him. Shay, listen to me! You have to hide before the others get back. They’ll hurt you; I could feel it.
There are the sounds of a vehicle approaching, and Duncan and I both look out the door: it’s an army jeep.
Duncan swears and spits at the ground. “I’ve been hiding from these camouflage creeps all week, but what would they want with you?”
I shrug, uneasy. “So why did you come here with us now? We wouldn’t have made you.”
“Because it was you.”
I take that in, saying nothing.
“In case you have to take off, Shay,” he says, laying stress on my name, “I have something to say. I’m sorry I’ve been such a jerk.”
I’m surprised, and forgetting Callie and the army, turn to him. Duncan, apologizing? Another wave of pain nearly takes him over; he buckles, then stands upright again, looking at me like that is the greater pain.
“In the circumstances, don’t worry about it,” I say.
“Yeah, I’ll carry on with dying. Can I have a last request?”
“What?”
“A kiss. Just to piss off that Neanderthal you hang out with.”
“He’s not that bad.”
“Oh?”
Shay, you have to run; do it now. They’re coming. Callie is frightened for me, I can feel it coming off her in waves, but she must be wrong. They’re the army, aren’t they? They won’t hurt me—this is the UK, they don’t do that sort of thing here. They’re meant to be the good guys.
I walk to the door. The jeep has pulled in; three biohazard-suited soldiers get out. Kai speaks to one of them, then gestures at me.
They start to walk toward me, and now I can feel it—growing stronger as they move closer. The menace.
One of them smiles inside his suit, but it is all lips, not eyes. “Are you Shay McAllister, reported to be a survivor of Aberdeen flu?”
“Yes. That’s me.” I hide my reaction. “And you are?”
“Lieutenant Kirkland-Smith. Delighted to meet you.”
Lizzie steps back. “You’re a survivor? You said you were immune.” She’s scared, repelled.
“I am. Survivors are immune.”
Duncan is somehow still propped up next to us by the door, despite the waves of pain he’s emanating. He slips away from the tent while everyone’s eyes are on me.
“Well, you are a tricky girl to find,” the lieutenant says. “Now that we have, we’d like to take you to some doctors who are studying the flu to see if you can help.”
He’s lying; I can feel it. What do they want with me? “Of course,” I say, a fixed smile on my face, somehow sure I shouldn’t aggravate them.
Kai is at his shoulder. “I’m coming with her.”
“I’m sorry, son, you can’t do that.”
“Nothing was said about that. Where are you going—aren’t you taking her to the research team at Newcastle?”
“It’s classified. I can’t tell you. Now say goodbye, we’ve got to get on our way shortly.”
Kai turns to me, appalled. “I’m sorry about earlier. I’m sorry I can’t come with you.”
“But this is what you wanted, isn’t it? For the army to take me away.”
He shakes his head. “Don’t be an idiot. I want to be with you.”
“Me too,” I whisper, my anger at him dissolving. I fight not to cry. He gives me a hug and murmurs in my ear that he’ll go home and find out from his mum where they’re taking me, that he’ll find a way to get to me there.
When he starts to move away, it is all I can do to not cling to him, but I have to let him go, to get him away from the menace. So he won’t get caught up in what might happen next.
He gets on his bike and disappears up the road.
I walk toward the door, forcing my steps to be even, calm, measured. Two wait there with the lieutenant; another one comes up behind me, then stands next to the others.
Look away, look away, look away, look away…I hold images of the sunset in my mind, and they all pause and look to the west.
I take one step back, another. It’s actually working!
Look away, you can’t see me; look away, you can’t see me; look away, you can’t see me; look away…
Then I run for the back of the park.
I get ten paces, twenty, before they realize I’m gone. I think misdirection at them all—imagining myself running out of the front of the park. They start to run the way I sent them, but then one of them—that lieutenant—turns himself around and looks back this
way. I stay close to the ground, willing myself invisible. I can’t get across the park without being seen while he’s there. Instead I slip into the back of the hospital tent and onto a bed.
I pull a sheet over my head, play dead.
I’m assaulted by the last painful memories of the occupants of this bed. Not one or two, but more and more.
I throw up my barriers, try not to feel or think.
Seconds tick slowly past. There are no voices, no running footsteps: they’re searching elsewhere.
For now.
Shay? Callie whispers in my thoughts, and I jump again. She didn’t leave with Kai? They’re checking the edges of the park and the main street, and Lizzie has gone to make tea. Slip out the front way now and they might not see you.
I peek out from under the edge of the sheet.
The light is nearly gone. There are few, so few, in this hospital tent who are still alive. None of them are in a condition to raise the alarm, even if they wanted to.
I creep out the front of the tent and slip into shadows, heading for the front of the park.
Wait! Callie says. One of them is coming back.
I crouch against a low wall by the café grounds at the park entrance. Can I go past it without him seeing me?
Not likely.
I imagine a noise, back the other way, near the bridge—and send the thought toward him.
He turns to look, and I slip over the café wall.
But I’m not alone. Another’s ragged breaths say someone else is hiding here too.
“Duncan?” I whisper.
“Yeah.”
“Why did you leave?” His breathing is fast, but the pain is gone. He won’t last much longer.
“I can die anywhere; why do it where I’m told?”
Shhh, Callie says. He’s coming back.
I stay still. There are footsteps that get closer, then continue on past us.
“I’m sorry, I’ve got to go,” I say.
“No problem. I’m good.”
I hesitate, then crawl closer to him—give him a swift kiss on the cheek. When my lips touch his skin, I feel it all: he knows he’s about to die, but he’s happy—happy I did this small thing for him.
Go, go! Callie says.
I slip out the front of the café but then trip over something in the dark; there’s a loud crash. I freeze.
Footsteps. Running footsteps, coming this way.
Now I run. No point in being quiet anymore. I take off full tilt down the street.
Duck! Callie screams, and I do. There’s a loud bang, and something whizzes past my head. My ear is hot, then wet.
Are they shooting at me?
Yes.
Now there’s a soldier coming the other way. I double back, staying low, but then the other one appears in front of me holding a gun. He points it at me, and all I can see is light reflecting off the cold metal, the rainbows inside it—circles of heat, and explosive force—that say it has been fired a moment ago at me. Blood drips down my neck from my ear. I’m frozen, a statue, too scared to think anything useful at him.
All I can do is give up. I stay where I am, and slowly stand up straight and raise my hands.
But he still holds the gun, trained on me. It’s held steady, and he’s taking sight. This is the UK; this is the army. He couldn’t…he’s not…NO—
Noise—fear—a blur of motion. I’m pushed roughly to the side. It’s Duncan? There’s a bang and his body contorts, red spreads across it. He crumples to the ground, a moment that seems to take forever.
Shock—mine and Duncan’s—and pain, waves of pain, that are all his. His death was close from the illness, but this pain is all to do with a bullet ripping through his gut.
I reach for him, but now the pain has gone. Instead there is peace. His body is still warm, but he’s gone.
But his last moments, his last thoughts, batter against me: Run, Shay, run! And he didn’t think, he just reacted—he threw himself at me. He saved me.
He died.
There’s a scream rising in my throat; fear and anger swell hot inside me and fling outward at the one who did this.
Run, Shay, run! still lingers in Duncan’s thoughts.
I get up and run.
CHAPTER 15
CALLIE
SHAY RUNS FAST, but she’s too noisy. She runs blindly, not watching where her feet go. She trips again and sprawls to the ground, breathing hard.
Stop, I say. Wait here, behind this car. I’ll check where they are. Shay? Are you listening?
Her eyes turn to mine. She nods. “Wait. Here. Okay.” She pants more than says the words, but that is still too loud.
Sorry, she thinks, catching my thought.
Just stay out of sight and be quiet.
I go back to the entrance of the park. Duncan’s body lies on the road. The one who shot him lies there too—still, unmoving. What happened to him? He was about to shoot Shay, but then his body jerked like he’d been shot himself—but no one was shooting at him.
The lieutenant and the other two that came with him are there, and then Lizzie runs up.
“What happened?” Lizzie says.
“Shay attacked one of my soldiers and stole his gun. That boy tried to stop her. She shot him.”
“What?” Lizzie says.
“We’ve got to find her. Where would she go?”
“Her house is off the A road above the loch.”
“She’s not likely to go home, not after that.”
Lizzie kneels on the road next to Duncan, her hand on his wrist. She shakes her head and lets go, fury in her eyes. “Where is Kai, Shay’s boyfriend? She’ll go to him,” Lizzie says, and now I want to slap her again.
“He was leaving Killin, going back to Newcastle, wasn’t he? Alert the roadblocks on the way. If he appears, detain him and have him brought back here.”
Ride fast, Kai: don’t let them get you.
CHAPTER 16
SHAY
I CRADLE MY HEAD against my knees. It didn’t hurt when it happened—it was just an impact and heat—but now the pain is growing. The side of my head is wet with blood.
Callie saved me. She told me to duck; if I hadn’t, that bullet wouldn’t have just caught my ear, giving this trickle of blood. I’d be dead.
Like Duncan is dead.
I’ve seen so many die in the last few days, yet his death still shocks me. He had Aberdeen flu, he was on his way for sure, but he had reached the point where the pain from the illness was over. Throwing himself at me—pushing me out of the way and getting shot in my place—brought all kinds of pain to his last moments. That bullet hastened his death in the most violent way.
He did that for me?
I don’t understand. He has been beyond awful to me since I moved here; he attacked me on the footpath. Then, today, he apologizes. And he takes a bullet with my name on it?
I’m glad I kissed his cheek. Something Kai maybe wouldn’t understand, but I’m glad.
Did Kai get away? Is he safe?
The night is quiet, cold. I listen carefully, but beyond bugs chirping and birds singing and the thudding of my heart, I can hear nothing. I’m dizzy, disconnecting from my body, like I’m floating away from myself.
I reach out. Above, to the sky; below it, to the trees, the earth, and the things that grow and burrow underneath its surface. I think I see through a cat’s eyes as it prowls through gardens, and then the eyes of birds in trees, and insects that fly, crawl, or spin—thousands of pairs of eyes. Multifaceted eyes see Killin from every angle. Where are you, Kai?
A moth on the motion detector light watches as Kai leaves my house.
My throat catches; he has his bike gear on. He walks to his bike by the side of the house, slowly, like he’s weighed down, doesn’t know whether to stay or go.
Stay, Kai. Please.
The motion light goes out, and the moth flutters away. I find a spider on a web in the eaves instead. Kai—splintered by spider eyes—starts his bike, and I pani
c: he’s leaving.
He heads up our lane as I watch from one set of eyes, then another. He hesitates at the end.
Don’t turn right, Kai; don’t ride away faster than I can follow. Turn left instead. Come and find me. I plead with him inside but am powerless to reach him from this far away.
He turns right.
CHAPTER 17
CALLIE
SHAY?
She’s still, slumped on the ground where I left her. There is more blood on the side of her head, some dark and clotted, some fresh. Red swirls on her skin with the raindrops that have started to fall, and I panic. She can’t die. She’s the only one who can talk to me.
Shay! I say it loud, inside her head.
She moans, stirs.
Get up.
Why? Kai’s gone. Mum’s gone. Her thoughts are murky and sad, running into each other: Abandoned. Lost. Alone.
I’m still here. Get up!
I nag her over and over inside her head until finally she struggles to her feet, using the car she was hiding behind to pull herself up. She winces as she moves.
Okay, I’m up. Now what?
Get out of the rain.
Her house—home, but how can it be home without anyone there?—flashes through her thoughts.
No. We can’t go to your house; one of the soldiers was heading there. He’s probably there by now. The others are searching for you. You need to get out of sight before any of them come back this way.
Okay. Shay staggers to the corner and down a side street. She tries doors until one opens, and we go in. She locks the deadbolt behind her and leans against the door for a moment, then walks slowly down the hall, one hand on the wall, until she finds the bathroom.
She switches on the light and looks in the mirror. Her hair is wet and tangled, mud on one side of her white face and blood on the other.
I look like shit.
Pretty much.
Gee, thanks.
She takes a hand towel, holds it under the tap, and dabs at the blood around her ear, wincing as she does so. She rinses the towel under the tap, and there is a swirl of old and new blood in the water. She does it again and again, tears rising in her eyes, until it is clean. There is more fresh blood dripping down her neck now, and her ear is half hanging off.