Vanished

by Eden Darry

“He won’t stop.” Dani didn’t look up from the coffee pot.

  Loveday glanced at Ellery who shrugged.

  “As long as we can get far enough away from him—”

  “He won’t stop. He thinks handing me over to Rosemary Decker will bring back his son.”

  “He told you that?” Ellery asked. She folded the map and stuffed it in her pocket.

  “No. I saw it in the dream. We’d left by then, and I was waiting for the right time to ditch him.” Dani poured out coffee into three tin mugs. Loveday took hers gratefully.

  “What else did you see in the dreams?” Loveday asked gently.

  Dani sighed, sipped her coffee. “I’m supposed to save the world or some bullshit like that. You two were going to come and help me get north.”

  “Do you know how you’re going to save the world? I mean, are you going to bring people back? The ones who vanished?” Ellery asked.

  “No. Not like that. I don’t really understand it. But I know a storm is coming. Worse than before. And if we don’t get to high ground in time, then we’ll die.”

  “So you don’t know much more than us.” Loveday sipped her coffee. It tasted good and warmed her insides. She was freezing cold. “Then we just keeping moving. Try to stay ahead of Terry Pratt, and avoid this death squad or whatever it is that’s coming for us. Easy.”

  No one answered her. They drank their coffee in silence. It started to rain.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  The hangar was quiet. Most people avoided Rosemary like the plague. She didn’t mind. It was better to be feared and have no more opposition. They’d come around. Once they realized everything she did was for their own good and the glory of God. If not, well, she’d shown what would happen. Rosemary didn’t expect any more dissent.

  “Any news?” she asked Chloe-Claire, who was back to work and sporting a splint on her arm. She didn’t appear to hold a grudge against Rosemary.

  “They’ve almost repaired the Ark 2. The graffiti is almost invisible.”

  Except Rosemary knew it was there. Knew that someone had dared to carve an obscenity into her beloved boat. It didn’t matter that those responsible were lying in a ditch outside the hangar—injustice burned in her stomach.

  And where was the girl? Why hadn’t the scouting party she’d sent out found her yet? Rosemary was growing impatient. The storm was almost upon them, and she wanted the girl dead before they got on the boat. Her and the ones with her. Rosemary had seen one of them in a dream. Something about her tugged at Rosemary unpleasantly. Did she know her? Had they met before? Fear settled around her.

  She stood up quickly, keen to shake it off. She would go and see the Ark 2. In the past it had always made her feel better. She forced thoughts of the woman in the dream from her mind.

  * * *

  By the time they reached the hotel at the services, the rain was coming down in sheets and it was clear Loveday was sick.

  Really sick.

  They helped her strip out of her wet clothes—even waterproofs couldn’t repel the quantity of rain which lashed down—and get under the covers in one of the rooms on the first floor. The hotel was one of those generic flat boxes that squatted by the side of main roads or at motorway services. Every room looked the same, and every piece of furniture was square and made from laminate.

  But it was better than camping, and some of the rooms were unoccupied, so they didn’t have to deal with vanished people’s suitcases and dirty sheets.

  Ellery hung out their wet things in the bathroom, hoping they might dry overnight but not holding out much hope. Loveday let out a machine gun of sneezes in the other room, and Ellery thought they might be here for a few days yet.

  “Shall I go over to the services and pick up some cold medicine?” Dani asked from the doorway.

  “No, I’ll go. You stay here with Loveday.”

  Dani hesitated, nodded.

  “What?” Ellery asked.

  “Be careful. I know Loveday said he was a way behind us, but if we have to stay here for a while, he’ll catch us up.”

  Ellery rubbed the back of her head. Her hair was longer now, and she could get her fingers through it. “I know.”

  She didn’t know what else to say. Loveday was sick and they couldn’t move her. Terry would catch them up.

  Loveday began coughing. It sounded phlegmy and rough. Ellery wasn’t a human doctor, but she knew an infection when she heard one. If they could find a chemist, she’d probably be able to find the correct antibiotics if the cough didn’t clear up on its own.

  Ellery tried not to worry, but it was pointless. She worried about Loveday when she wasn’t sick. Pretty much all she thought about was Loveday. Well, that and the kiss they’d shared. She played that one over and over in her head on a continuous loop. She thought about the way Loveday pursed her lips and got a little line on her brow when Ellery had done something to piss her off. Ellery loved that line. She loved those lips. She was pathetic. She’d fall apart without Loveday. Loveday had to be okay.

  Ellery sighed and stood. “I won’t be long. Maybe get another duvet from one of the other rooms. In case she’s cold.”

  The benefit of everything electrical not working was the mechanisms for the bedroom doors were disabled. The downside was it was bloody cold in here.

  * * *

  Terry was drenched but didn’t care. He wiped the rain from his eyes every few feet and stopped pulling his hood back up. The wind kept whipping it off his head anyway.

  His thighs burned and his feet ached but he pushed on. When he thought he might fall down with exhaustion, he thought of his son and kept going.

  He was so close now. Finally in the north of the country. Terry had never been further than Essex, and looking around he thought he probably hadn’t been missing much. Fields and trees and low hedges everywhere. A motorway sign told him some services were fifteen miles up ahead. He’d probably get there by tomorrow.

  Water ran like a river across the tarmac and over his boots, soaking them. His wet socks rubbed his feet and squelched between his toes. He was freezing. His teeth chattered and his hands were red with the cold.

  Still, Terry walked on. He thought about his son and how close he was to the end of all this. He thought about Loveday and how he would teach her a lesson. He thought about Dani and her young, firm body. Mostly he thought about his son. He didn’t think hardly at all about that fucking devil and if he was a liar and if this was all for nothing.

  * * *

  Ellery directed her torch over the shelves. The shop in the services only stocked a basic assortment of cold medicine. She picked up cough mixture, cold tablets, tissues, paracetamol, and cough drops. She hesitated over the chocolate. But when she heard a noise from somewhere in the building and remembered her visit to the superstore, she grabbed a handful of bars, stuffed them in her bag, and hurried out.

  The rain hadn’t let up, and water streamed across the car park. Like before, cars squatted, abandoned, some parked up, and some had coasted into walls and into each other. It was eerie. The sun was setting, but it had been dark most of the afternoon because of the weather. The air was cold and crisp and clean. She wondered if this was the beginning of the end.

  Ellery jogged across the car park and into the hotel. She shook the water from her hair and headed for the stairs. Just as empty and gloomy as the services, it would soon be pitch black inside.

  “It’s me,” she called out as she walked down the hall towards their room.

  Inside, Loveday lay beneath a pile of bedclothes, only the top of her auburn head visible. Dani sat in a chair by the window reading. She looked up. “She’s been asleep since you left. Coughing and sneezing and stuff.”

  Ellery went to the bed and sat down. She pulled the duvet down slightly and felt Loveday’s head. Clammy but not hot. A bad cold but not flu. Thank God.

  “Loveday.” She shook her gently.

  Loveday cracked open one eye. “Did you bring drugs?” Her voice was scratchy
and she sounded bunged up.

  “Yeah. And tissues.”

  Ellery gave her the medicine and a small bottle of orange juice. She noticed Loveday’s hand shake as she drank.

  “Loveday, can you feel him? I mean, do you know where he is?”

  Loveday swallowed the pills, winced, and wiped her hand across her forehead. “I don’t. I’m sorry. My head is so stuffy.”

  “It’s okay. Don’t worry. Just sleep,” Ellery said.

  “For a little while. I’ll be ready to go tomorrow. I promise.”

  Ellery glanced at Dani who was biting her lip. “We’ll see. For now, just concentrate on getting better.”

  Loveday grunted, lay back down, and burrowed under the duvet. She turned on her side, away from Ellery.

  Ellery tried to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach. It was just a cold—the flu, at worst. People got over it all the time. Loveday was young and healthy, and there was no reason to worry. She would be up and about in no time. Ellery knew all this, but still the sick feeling remained—a sense of dread. It nagged and pawed at her even though she knew she was being irrational. But she couldn’t lose Loveday. She just couldn’t.

  “It’ll be dark soon,” Dani said. She turned in the chair and looked outside.

  “Yes. Leave the curtains open. We shouldn’t put our torches on.”

  “I’ll watch out the window. Just in case.”

  The rain beat in a steady rhythm against the glass and Ellery wondered if he would come tonight.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Terry squeezed out his socks and watched the water pour. He’d finally taken refuge in an abandoned car. The rain hadn’t let up, and it had become too dark to carry on walking. He dumped his backpack after it became so waterlogged he could barely carry it. Of course he’d taken out the beers first and put them in his coat pockets.

  He drank one now and watched a raindrop trail jerkily down the windowpane. He downed the beer. Opened another. He tried to remember the last time he’d eaten and couldn’t. He was tired.

  Terry struggled out of his coat. His jumper was soaked, so he took that off as well. The car was cold. He downed the beer, then drew his knees up to his chest. He felt around in his pocket for his lighter and cigarettes. The cigarettes were damp, so he ran the flame from his lighter along one to dry it out.

  Terry took a deep drag and leaned his head back against the seat. Better. He opened another beer—his last one—and took a sip. He would make this one last.

  Terry took another drag, and the cigarette crackled, the tip glowed red hot. The car quickly filled with smoke, the smell burning his eyes and tickling his nose.

  If the women were on the same road as him, and if he could catch them tomorrow close to the services, then he might have an idea. Terry smiled to himself.

  * * *

  Loveday couldn’t breathe. She sat up in bed and tried to blow her nose. Her ears popped. Her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool, and even as she reached out to find Terry, she knew it was no good. Too foggy and heavy inside her head.

  Across the room, Dani was curled up in a chair, fast asleep. Ellery was on the bed with her but right over on the edge. Loveday guessed it was so she wouldn’t disturb her. Ellery was sweet like that. Loveday didn’t think she’d ever met anyone as sweet as Ellery. The warm feeling lapped at her insides, and she smiled. Then she sneezed.

  God, she felt like crap. Rocky raised his head off his paws, and his eyes shone in the dark. He and Claude were at the end of the bed. Their pram had been soaked through in the rain.

  It was still coming down now, a thick wall of water which didn’t seem inclined to stop. Loveday guessed this was the start of it. The big flood. Before she’d gotten sick, Ellery thought they probably had another four or five days’ travel. She would have to be ready to go tomorrow because she couldn’t afford to slow them down.

  “How are you feeling?” Ellery asked.

  Loveday felt her turn in the bed.

  “I’m okay,” she said before a coughing fit betrayed her.

  She felt the bed dip as Ellery stood, rustled around, then handed her a small plastic cup.

  “Here, you can take some more cough mixture now.”

  Loveday took it gratefully, then lay back down.

  “Let’s try again. How are you feeling?”

  Loveday sighed. “Like dogshit. But I’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

  “No. We’ll stay here until you’re better. We don’t have doctors any more, Loveday. If you get sicker, there’s nothing anyone can do.”

  Loveday reached out and squeezed Ellery’s hand. “We also don’t have the luxury of hanging around.”

  “Let’s see how you feel in the morning, okay?” Ellery shifted and lay beside her.

  Loveday moved in close, and Ellery’s arms came around her. She should tell her not to, she might get sick, but it felt good. Comforting. And Loveday was selfish, after all.

  * * *

  As soon as the sun began to rise, Terry started walking.

  * * *

  Ellery splashed her face with water from the sink. Dani sat on the edge of the bathtub, eating cold custard from a can.

  “You know, maybe we could find something to, like, pull her along in?” In the mirror she watched Dani lick her spoon.

  “Like what? A giant pram?” Ellery towelled off. Her eyes felt less grainy now.

  “No.”

  “Wheelbarrow?”

  Dani laughed. “Shut up, Ellery. I’m being serious.”

  Ellery turned. “She needs to rest and stay warm and dry.”

  “I know. But Terry is…I mean, he wasn’t nice to start with, but as we’d been going along he got worse. I think he’s completely mental now, instead of just a bit.”

  “We stopped him before.”

  “Yeah, because a massive herd of animals turned up and distracted him. We should at least, like, get some knives or something.”

  Ellery looked at the Dani, watched her scrape around the can with her index finger, not a line on her painfully young face and certainly nothing about her to indicate she was the saviour of mankind.

  “What?” Dani paused with her finger in front of her mouth, a blob of yellow custard balanced precariously on the end of it.

  “I’m struggling to see you as the leader of our new world,” Ellery said.

  Dani shrugged. “Yeah, me too. It’s fucked up.”

  Ellery sighed. “You really have no more idea than me and Loveday?”

  “I swear.” Dani crossed her heart. “I’d tell you if I did. I trust you now.”

  “Okay, then. I’m going to head over to the services and get some more food. I’ll take Rocky.”

  “Get knives,” Dani called after her.

  * * *

  Ellery pulled a few tins off the shelves and stuffed them in a little bag. The rain was still going full steam ahead and drummed on the roof in a steady roar. It was hard to hear anything inside the building. Any noise would be muffled.

  She moved down the aisle and picked up a paperback, then put it down and took another. It was gloomy in here and hard to see much of anything.

  Finally, she was satisfied with what she had, and she went back around to the entrance. She paused by a rack selling phone chargers, earphones, batteries and cocked her head to the side, waited. She shook her head slightly, glanced around, and walked to the exit.

  Terry knew it was now or never. He shot out from behind the newspaper stand and thrust the knife into her back.

  She made a hmpff sound, probably expelling air from her lungs, and swung around. Terry caught her again in the stomach.

  He slashed at her, felt the knife bury itself in her to the hilt. He pulled it out and stabbed again.

  He stabbed again and again and again.

  She fell to the ground, let go of her bag, and a can of something spilled out and rolled across the floor.

  Terry fell upon her.

  * * *

  Loveday sat up, look
ed around the room until she saw Dani, back in the chair by the window.

  Oh no. “Run,” she said. “He’s here.”

  * * *

  Terry filled a plastic jerrycan with petrol from the pump. Blood ran down his free hand and mixed with the rain. It was probably worse than it looked. No one told you you could cut yourself when you stabbed someone.

  When the can was full he carried it with his good hand into the hotel and set it by the front doors. He turned and went back for another.

  * * *

  Loveday shut Claude and Rocky in the bathroom. She wouldn’t think about Ellery.

  She’d told Dani to run and hide somewhere upstairs. Surely Terry would work his way up the building, bottom to top. If she could intercept him at this level, maybe Dani would be okay. Maybe Ellery would turn up and hit him over the head with another brick.

  Loveday crouched by the door with the knife and waited. She coughed, sniffed. She tried not to think about Ellery.

  * * *

  Terry poured petrol along the corridor of the ground floor. He poured it over the seating area, the rack of magazines and newspapers. He poured it over the reception desk and the curtains in the front window.

  He picked up the second can and took it with him up to the first floor. His hand dripped blood on the carpet. He was making a mess, but that didn’t matter now.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Rosemary was impatient. Still no news from the search party which left days ago. She looked over the platform at the ants scurrying around below. Fewer than before. Some executed and many had left after.

  Not so many people coming in now. Either they were bypassing her altogether, or most of the survivors were accounted for.

  Still, she had a decent number of dedicated followers. Good, strong people. It wouldn’t be long now. She was almost ready. She’d cleaned house and removed the troublemakers and Judases. All that was left to do was kill the girl. Kill the girl and start a brand new world.