Outside

Chapter Thirty One

I look at Denzil, at the intense expression on his face, and through my fuzzy panicked senses comes a cold sharp knife-cut of clarity. I have no choice. No one else can do this for me. It’s up to me and I can’t afford to muck it up. I put my fear into a box and clear my mind of everything except what I know I have to do.

Our lives are at stake again, but this time I’m not afraid. I feel like some giant hand has plucked me out of my timid reality and given me a shot of calm, before placing me back down.

Minutes later, I’m walking into the dining hall and up to Luc, who sits at the far end of the room next to some scarily important looking men in uniform. They all blur into a sea of khaki and I’ve no idea who they are or what rank they hold. My heart thumps, but I do my best to plaster on a smile for everyone seated at Luc’s table.

‘Sorry to disturb you.’ I smile apologetically. ‘Luc, could I borrow you for a second. There’s some stuff in the AV I need.’

Luc flushes. ‘Can’t it wait, Riley?’ He half smiles at the other men around the table and looks skyward. I can tell he’s annoyed with me, first for abandoning him for the evening and now for showing him up in front of everybody.

I don’t have time to deal with this now. All I can think about is getting us the hell away from Warminster.

‘Not really,’ I reply. ‘It’s a bit embarrassing.’

At this, one of Luc’s dining companions says, ‘Go on, son, help the young lady out. We’ll keep it warm for you.’ They all laugh at this, though what’s so funny, I can’t tell. They remind me of a pack of hyenas I once saw on a wildlife DVD, laughing hysterically before tearing into another animal’s kill.

As we walk out of the room, Luc hisses, ‘What are you doing? They were just about to give me some useful info on Chambers. What do you need from the AV? There’s hardly anything in it anyway?’ He sighs. ‘I don’t think I’ll be able to get the conversation back to Chambers again without them getting suspicious. Sorry for being annoyed, but you’ve messed this up, Riley.’

‘Sshh,’ I answer. ‘We’re in trouble.’ I quickly fill him in on the details. Like me, he doesn’t know whether to believe Denzil’s story or not, but if Denzil’s story is true then we’ll be in greater danger if we stay. We make up our minds quickly and decide to leave.

Luc and I walk the five hundred yards to the AV. It seems like five miles in the humid electrified air. We slide into the vehicle and Luc drives out slowly, back the way we came in, less than three hours ago. As we approach the checkpoint, Denzil emerges from the hut. Through the door, I can see the body of a soldier sprawled on the floor. Denzil sees us looking warily at the body.

‘Don’t worry, he’ll live. I just clocked him on the back of the head.’ He jumps into the back seat, throwing us each a machine gun, one of which is our confiscated weapon.

‘Keep those handy,’ he says. ‘I’m deserting my post and I reckon we got about fifteen minutes before they realise you’re not having any pudding. I should put my foot down hard on that pedal if I were you,’ he says to Luc. ‘I’m Denzil, pleased to meet you.’

‘What the hell’s going on?’ demands Luc, clearly shaken by this drastic turn of events. ‘Why do we have to leave? You said my father‘s not welcome here anymore. It all sounds like a load of crap to me.’

‘Can we drive and talk?’ Denzil says.

Luc does as he’s told and turns back onto the road.

‘I just need you to trust it’s also best for me if I get you out of here alive,’ Denzil continues. ‘I know you got no real reason to trust me yet, but you must know something wasn’t right back there or why would you be escaping with me now?’

‘I trust Riley. She said we needed go, so here we are.’

I give Luc a half smile, but he his eyes are on the road, not on me.

‘I gave you back all your weapons didn’t I?’ Denzil says. ‘I wouldn‘t have done that if I was gonna hurt you.’

‘Well, it doesn’t look like we’ve got much choice now,’ says Luc. ‘Not now we’re fleeing from our hosts and you did something nasty to that soldier back there. And Riley seems to trust you.’ Luc glances across at me and I shrug non-committally, which isn’t any help at all. He presses his lips together and his jaw tightens.

‘We’ll have to go along with you for now,’ he says, braking suddenly as we reach a junction. He turns to look at Denzil, who almost fills the whole of the back seat. ‘We’re heading west. That okay?’ Luc asks. ‘Tell you the truth, I’m a bit drunk. They loaded me up with booze back there.’

‘It doesn’t matter which way we go. They’ll send units in both directions. May as well head towards Westbury, and go as fast as you can. I’ve topped up your tank.’

Luc and I both look at the fuel gauge, which is showing ‘Full’.

‘Nice one,’ Luc says grudgingly, looking at him in the rear view mirror.

‘Are you alright to drive?’ I ask Luc. ‘Do you want me to take over?’

‘I’m sobering up quickly, but thanks for the offer.’

Night is falling around us and the AV’s beams are on full. We appear to be climbing in altitude and the road winds above the surrounding countryside, which spreads out all around us in dark splodges of field and woodland. The road quality is better than we’d been used to and we manage to hit thirty miles per hour, but I still feel every jolt and accidentally bite my tongue. It hurts like hell, but I don’t say anything.

‘We’ll have to get off the road in a minute,’ Denzil says. ‘Once they’ve discovered we’re gone, they’ll send out the Lynx.’

‘What’s a Lynx?’ I ask. ‘It doesn’t sound good, whatever it is.’

‘It’s not. Not for us anyway. It’s a helicopter and it’ll pick us up straight away if we stay on the road. Lucky for us, they’ve got no more anti-armour missiles, but we still got the door guns to watch out for.’

‘So why are we still on the road? Let’s find somewhere to hide.’ I’m panicking now.

‘We still got time,’ Denzil reassures. They might not even bother to come after us.’

‘Really?’ Luc asks.

‘Nah, man. They’ll come after us, no question.’ He laughs a deep belly laugh.

‘Great,’ says Luc, massaging his temple with his right hand.

We pass tiny terraced brick cottages perched on the side of the road, obviously abandoned and completely dilapidated. They look sinister in the black night, like huddled old crones plotting our downfall. We drive towards a bridge with faded graffiti daubed across its length: TURN BACK OR DIE.

‘That’s a bit dramatic.’ Luc brakes suddenly, unsure whether or not to continue.

‘Don’t worry. That graffiti’s years old,’ says Denzil. ‘This is Westbury. It used to be a compound, but everyone got wiped out in the plague.’

‘Everyone?’ I ask.

‘Yeah, it was pretty bad. About twelve years ago they all got sick and nearly everyone died. Anyone who didn’t get it fled the place and no one ever came back. Westbury’s deserted now, apart from the odd traveller. It’s a ghost town, literally. Loads of the lads swear they’ve seen weird stuff going on down here.’

‘Thanks for that, Denzil. You’ve made me feel so much better.’ Goosebumps prickle all over me.

He laughs his loud surprising laugh, unexpected for such a softly-spoken person. It would be infectious if I wasn’t so scared for my life.

‘I’m glad you think it’s all so hilarious,’ says Luc. ‘Are we going into the joyous ghost town of plagues and death then?’

‘We’ll hide ourselves there till morning.’ Denzil confirms my fears.

‘Why did I know you were going to say that.’ I’m not at all happy with the thought of spending a night in this creepy, deserted town. But then I suppose it is marginally better than being shot at from a military helicopter.

The AV crawls under the bridge and along the silent narrow street. I can’t see any signs of habitation. Thick foliage lines the road. I don’t even want to think about what I’d do if I was alone here. We turn off the main track into an overgrown wilderness of rubble and tangled greenery, bumping over goodness- knows-what and straining our eyes to spot somewhere to hide.

‘This is no good,’ Denzil says after a couple of minutes of trying to penetrate our way through the debris in the AV. ‘Got a torch?’

I scrabble about in the footwell and release the catch on the hidden compartment. My hand finds the torch straightaway and I pass it back to him.

‘Stop the vehicle and kill the lights. I’m gonna go find us somewhere proper to hide.’

‘On foot?’ I ask, horrified he could be so brave.

‘Yeah, it’ll be quicker. You two wait here. I won’t be long.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ Luc says.

‘No need. You stay with Riley. It’ll be quicker if it’s just me.’ And he’s gone, eaten up by the shadows.

‘Do you think he’ll come back?’ Luc asks.