by Casey, Ryan
The ginger man lifted her hand into the air.
Looked at her. Smiled.
“Congratulations, princess,” he said. “You’ve just earned yourself a life of luxury.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Please. Please help me. I’m scared. My mum. My dad. My sister. They killed them. Help me. Please. Please.”
Zelda stared at this little ginger boy with his cracked glasses hiding by the side of the caravan, and she felt sick. Her head spun. She felt warm suddenly. Because she didn’t understand. It should be Finn here. It should be Finn. He was supposed to be here. He was supposed to be the one she found.
But it wasn’t Finn.
It was someone else.
“They… they killed them. I—I don’t even want to see them. Please. Help me.”
The trio around the fire.
The man. The woman. The girl.
Finn’s parents.
And in all the naivety, in all the horror, Zelda found herself still confused. Still lost.
Still not wanting to believe that the likely answer was the true answer here.
“Finn didn’t say he had a brother,” she said.
She saw the kid’s eyes turn, then. Just for a moment, they turned. Like he recognised her. Or like he’d been caught lying. Like he knew he’d done something wrong. Very wrong.
And then he just tucked his head into his hands and sobbed.
“Help me. Help me. Please.”
Zelda’s jaw tensed. Because none of it made sense. And in a horrible kind of way, as she stood there in the warmth of the beaming sun, it made total sense.
Either this kid was lying to her.
Or something else.
Something she didn’t want to face up to.
Something she didn’t want to believe.
She stepped away from the boy.
“Come on, Barney.”
“I need help. I need you to help me. Pl—”
“Barney, I said come on,” Zelda said.
She smacked him on his back, then. Urged him to follow. She looked at the caravans. At that campfire. At the flies buzzing around those bodies, which were starting to smell sour.
The family.
The trio.
And she wanted to walk away. She wanted to forget she’d ever seen anything here. She wanted to carry on like everything was normal. Pretend everything was okay.
But…
She walked over those bodies. To the edge of the caravan site. Just had to keep moving. Keep walking. Keep going.
Keep denying what was staring her right in the face.
And then she stopped.
She looked down at the bodies.
Looked at them lying there. Vacant, wide eyes.
And then she did something.
She reached down.
Searched the man’s pockets.
The flies landed on her. His skin was solid, his muscles hard. The smell was intense.
But she’d handled worse things than smells like this.
She was going to be okay.
Everything was going to be okay.
She went to check his back pocket when she felt it.
The wallet.
She pulled it out.
The kid still sobbing by the caravan.
Opened it up.
A driver’s licence. Manfred Cole.
A few bits of loose change and notes.
A few bank cards.
And then something that froze Zelda, right there.
A photograph.
A family photograph.
The man.
The woman.
The girl.
And a boy, too.
Only this boy wasn’t the ginger kid.
And it certainly wasn’t Noah.
As much as she didn’t want to accept it, as much as she didn’t want to face it, Zelda saw the horrid truth staring her right in her eyes.
Finn wasn’t this man’s child.
So who the hell was he?
She went to stand when she felt pressure against the back of her skull.
“Not another move, lady.”
She closed her eyes. Sighed. Barney growled and barked somewhere beside her.
In a way, she felt herself again. Her cynical, sceptical self.
Because she’d been betrayed.
And she’d been hurt.
And this hurt was the most familiar thing in her life.
The thing she was most… at ease with.
But it hurt.
She looked up and saw two men ahead of her.
One of them bulky. Ginger. Yellow-toothed. Bearlike.
A hand on Finn’s shoulder.
Finn looked at her. Wide-eyed. Terrified.
“I’m sorry,” he mouthed. “I tried… I—”
And then someone smacked him over the back of the head and stopped him speaking, right in his tracks.
And then it clicked.
The ginger man. The man on the picture Finn had drawn.
Zelda saw it in her mind’s eye.
And the more she thought about it, the more she thought she saw exactly what those smudged words said after all.
RUN.
Then the other ginger kid walked over to the man.
Pulled those cracked glasses off and threw them to the road.
The ginger man put a hand on his shoulder too and scrunched them close together.
“Good work, kiddos,” he said. “Very good work indeed.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
It was sunset when Noah saw the movement up ahead.
He’d walked all day. Well out of his comfort zone now. But he knew where he was going. He had a destination in mind, from Cady, Freddie, and Mick, at least. The coast. Head to the coast. That’s where this group was. The people who’d taken Jane. They had to be there.
And from what they’d said, Jane was alive. Alive, but probably in a bad way. They knew that from their own experiences.
It was an awful thing to think about. An awful thing to consider.
But she was alive. So that was something.
No matter what kind of state she might be in.
It was getting dark. Red sun hung overhead, always giving him the creeps. The usual abandoned cars and rotten bodies and skeletons lay beside the road. A constant fear at the back of his mind that they might just get up again, that the dead might just start walking again.
But then he saw that movement. Right up ahead.
He slowed. Lifted his hammer. Squinted. Remembered what Freddie told him.
“You’ll know the place… ’cause they won’t let you get within an inch of it.”
He held on to his hammer. Looked all around at the buildings either side. He was getting closer to the coast. He could see the horizon in the distance. Soon, he’d see water. They could be here. Watching. Waiting for him. Eyes on his every move.
He took a few steps forward, towards that movement. It was hard to figure it out. Only it looked like there was someone on that other side of the car. Some kind of shadow. A figure. Moving.
He crept closer towards that movement. He didn’t want to attract any attention. He wanted to maintain the upper hand here. The element of surprise could be a dangerous thing, though, especially if this person were armed.
But he’d take his chances.
He got closer and closer to this movement when he heard something.
Right up ahead, he heard a growl.
A guttural growl. Deep. Throaty.
Enough to make every hair on his body stand on end.
His heart pounded. He’d heard a lot about escaped zoo animals. It stood to reason that there’d be some nasty beasts out here. Lions. Tigers. That kind of thing.
And there was a zoo close by. Blackpool.
All kinds of thoughts spiralled his mind. All kinds of possibilities. All kinds of outcomes.
He just held that hammer. Heart racing.
You’ve got this. Just take a look. Just take a look then get th
e hell away from here.
He held his breath.
Stepped around the car.
And he froze.
A beast stood before him.
Except it wasn’t just any ordinary beast.
“B… Barney?”
He thought at first he might be mistaken. That it might be someone else’s Rottweiler.
But the way he jumped up at Noah, licked his face, wagged his tail… Noah knew right away.
Noah held on to him. Almost tearful. Barney reminded him of Jasmine, which was always both painful and nice at the same time.
“What’re you doing out here on your own, boy?” he said, wrestling with him. “Weren’t you with Zelda?”
Barney whined. Looked uncertainly at the road ahead.
Noah looked ahead, too. He figured his people were all in a pretty close radius. Zelda was always the one he thought might’ve drifted from the path the most, though. He never really had anything against Zelda. She was always just a free spirit.
So finding Barney on his own… it could mean a number of things, really.
Maybe she’d got sick of him. Abandoned him.
Or maybe something had happened to her.
Maybe she’d got caught up in the same drama Jane had been dragged into.
He ruffled Barney’s fur. A part of him didn’t want Barney along with him. He wanted to keep him safe out here. Wanted to protect him.
But then he looked into those big brown eyes, and he half-smiled.
“You’re gonna look out for me if I look out for you, huh? You’re a good lad. Always have been a good lad.”
Barney whimpered. Something was bothering him. Which stood to reason, really. Noah felt uneasy about all this too. He didn’t know why, couldn’t put his finger on it. But something just didn’t seem right.
It felt like something was… looming.
“Come on,” he said, standing. “Let’s get out of here. We’ve got a few people to f…”
He stopped when he heard another growl.
Then another.
Then another.
When he looked around, every muscle in his body turned to stone.
There were three feral dogs approaching.
And then another two.
And another three.
All edging between the houses.
Teeth bared.
Some of their muzzles bloodied.
A starving look across each of their faces.
Noah backed up, Barney whimpering by his side.
“Well, shit,” he said. “Looks like zoo animals aren’t our biggest problem after all, eh lad?”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Kelly opened her eyes and smiled.
Sunlight peeked in through the bedroom window. It was warm in here, but a nice heat. Soothing. Calming.
And the best thing of all?
She’d actually had a good night’s sleep. A sleep without a child pressing against her ribcage. And a sleep without being woken by the baby, who she was still figuring out a name for, too.
She had a few ideas what to call the baby. But she kept settling on one. It just felt a bit… well. Weird. She wasn’t sure what to think about it. And she wasn’t sure what Eddie would think about it, either.
But she’d pitch it to him. See what he thought.
He was the father at the end of the day. He had as much say in this as she did.
She rolled over and saw Sunil lying by her side. They hadn’t made love. She wasn’t ready yet, of course. But she was growing more attracted to him.
He seemed a nice guy. But really, in truth, she still had that personal barrier between them both. That wall that was erected between them. She was physically attracted to him. He looked after her. And he was good with the baby.
But she wasn’t sure it went much beyond that.
Not… not like it did with Eddie, dare she admit it.
He looked around at her, already awake. Smiled. “Morning, gorgeous.”
He leaned in. Kissed her, right on the lips.
And it felt good. It felt nice. Sparked feelings inside her. Emotions inside her.
But shame, too.
Uncertainty.
Intimacy was always going to be uncomfortable for her. Especially when feelings were involved.
She got out of bed. Still felt weird, suddenly being eight pounds lighter. Hopefully, she’d stay that way. She knew a lot of friends who’d piled the weight on after having kids. Maybe living in a world where food wasn’t quite as abundant would help with that.
She walked over to the side of the cot. Saw the little baby lying there, fast asleep. Ready to feed soon. Which was a weird sensation. Her breasts felt big and heavy. She wasn’t sure she liked the whole idea of breastfeeding.
But it wasn’t like she had loads of options anymore.
“He slept well,” Kelly said.
Sunil laughed, jumping out of bed, totally naked. “No, you slept well. He was whining away for a good half hour or so in the middle of the night.”
“Really? I didn’t hear him.”
Sunil put a hand on her back. “It’s okay. Eddie… Eddie saw to him.”
She looked around at Sunil. “Eddie did?”
Sunil shrugged. “Well. With a little help from yours truly. But he’s learning. We’re all learning. Some of us are more natural than others at this. But he’s a good guy. He’s trying his best. I can…”
“What?”
“I can see why you… think so highly of him.”
Kelly blushed at that. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Come on, Kelly,” Sunil said, laughing. “It doesn’t take a genius to realise you think the world of him. Whether it’s romantic or not.”
“It’s not like that. It’s… complicated.”
“Why should it be complicated?” he asked.
“Hang on a second. You just spent the night lying in bed beside me. Don’t tell me you’re suddenly done with me. Was I really that smelly?”
Sunil laughed again. Shook his head. “I like you, Kelly. Doesn’t take a genius to see that, either. But I know women like you, too.”
“This sounds moderately patronising.”
“Maybe so. But I know women like you. You struggle with attachment. You like to keep emotions out of things. You’ve broken a lot of hearts. But one day, somebody comes along out of nowhere. Somebody you don’t expect. And they sweep you off your feet. And you just don’t know what to do about it. You know what they call guys like that?”
“Enlighten me.”
“Marriage material.”
Kelly laughed. Shook her head. “Really? Get a grip.”
She turned around. Walked towards the bedroom door.
But despite her protestations, despite her joking, she couldn’t get Sunil’s suggestion out of her mind.
Eddie.
Husband material.
Marriage material.
The guy who came out of nowhere and swept her off her feet.
Was that really the case?
Was he really that guy?
“I’m thinking of calling the baby…” Kelly started.
Then she heard the banging on the door.
She frowned. Looked around at Sunil.
Saw him immediately walk past her. Lift out his knife.
“Wait here,” he said.
“But—”
“Wait here. Watch the baby. I’ll check them out.”
Sunil walked past her. She didn’t like holding back. Didn’t like taking orders like this. She was her own person. Especially didn’t like men bossing her about.
But she knew her duty right now.
Her primary duty.
She reached into the cot. Held the baby to her chest. Rocked the little man gently from side to side.
Listened as Sunil descended the stairs.
As he opened the front door.
Braced herself for shouting. For a blast. For gunfire.
But she didn’t hear any of that.
&nb
sp; Just talking.
And then: “Kelly?”
Kelly stepped out of the room. Put the baby back in the cot, first.
She reached the top of the stairs and looked down.
There were three people with Sunil.
One of them a short black guy. A woman with grey streaks through her hair. And another bloke, older, very smiley.
“They’re called Freddie. Cady. Mick,” Sunil said. “They said Noah pointed them here. Said they might be interested joining our journey. Joining us on our route to my home.”
She looked at this trio. It was hard to judge anyone nowadays. But they looked friendly enough. Safe enough.
Trustworthy enough.
She nodded at them. Left them downstairs. Left them to talk with Sunil.
And she thought about Noah.
She was glad he’d left. When she last saw him, he was long down a dark road she feared he wasn’t ever going to come back from.
But he’d sent these people here.
Maybe that was his way of helping.
Maybe that was his way of changing his ways.
She walked to Eddie’s bedroom door.
Tapped on it a couple of times. Lazy bugger. Then again, if he’d been up with the baby in the night, it made sense.
She tapped again. “Eddie?”
No response.
She tutted. She really wanted to share the truth with him. The truth about the baby’s name. What she was going to call him.
She thought about walking away when she decided to try the handle.
She opened the door.
Eddie’s curtains were open. His cabinets were bare. His wardrobe door was partly ajar.
His bed was made.
Empty.
“Ed… Eddie?”
She stood there a few seconds. Wondering if she was missing something. If her eyes were playing tricks.
She went to step out of the room when she saw it.
The note.
The note sitting in the middle of the bed.
She froze. Not wanting to read it. Not wanting to see.
And then she walked over to it.
Slowly.
Heart racing.
She reached that note. Unfolded it. Read it.
Then read it again.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
Guilt clawed at her neck.
“Sunil?” she called.
Footsteps. Racing up the stairs. “Kelly? Are you okay?”