Read Online The Sacrifice by Charlie Higson - Free Book Online

with that. What is it? A walking stick?’
    Another nod.
    ‘All right. Listen. We stick close
     together till we’re out of the building, then we run. You can run, yeah? Good. We
     should be fine. Kyle, check outside.’
    Kyle went into the office that overlooked
     the street and leant out of the open window. They could hear him calling down to Macca
     and Will outside. He waited a moment, listening, and then returned to the reception
     area.
    ‘All quiet outside. It’s just
     this lot we have to worry about. Once we get past these goons we should be fine. How
     many d’you reckon, Adele?’
    Adele had been watching the door through all
     this. The sickos were still crowding round it, licking the glass, pressing their pimply,
     broken faces against it.
    ‘I’ve counted nine,’ she
     said. ‘There could be more.’
    Ed took hold of the green girl’s arms
     to get her attention.
    ‘Is there definitely no other way out
     of the office than through this door?’
    This time the girl shook her head.
    Ed swore under his breath. This girl was
     making a lot of trouble for them. He hoped she was worth it.
    ‘We can’t pull the decoy trick
     again,’ he said, letting her go. ‘Not in here. Won’t work. Not enough
     of us. Too dangerous. Which means we’ve just got to fight our way out. I’ll
     go first … ’
    ‘Wait,’ said the girl, finally
     finding her voice. She put up her hand then ran off.
    ‘She’s forgotten her
     handbag,’ said Kyle. ‘Typical girl.’
    Adele shoved him and Kyle laughed.
    The girl returned with a backpack. She
     dropped it to the floor and opened the top. Started scrabbling around inside it for
     something.
    ‘Can’t find her purse,’
     said Kyle and Adele elbowed him in the ribs.
    It wasn’t a purse she pulled out,
     however; it was a pistol of some sort, with a wide, stubby barrel. Then she brought out
     a box. Ed read the label. They were flares. She cracked the gun and slotted a flare into
     it.
    Ed smiled his approval. The girl put away
     the rest of the flares, stuffed her stick into the bag, then fastened it and
     straightened up, the gun heavy in her trembling hand.
    ‘You ready then?’ Ed asked,
     helping the girl on with her pack. She spoke again, her voice hoarse from shouting.
    ‘I’m ready.’

10
    ‘I’ll pop the door, you let
     them have it. When I say, we break out of here.’
    Ed and Kyle went to the glass and jeered at
     the sickos, riling them, winding them up. They jittered and shook and clawed at the door
     in a frenzy. Once Ed was sure he had them all hooked he took hold of the handle.
    ‘Stand back … ’
    He wrenched the door open, two sickos spilt
     in and Kyle and Adele laid into them. Meanwhile, the green girl steadied her arm and
     fired the flare gun into the open doorway.
    There was a bang and the next sicko in line
     fell back, a bright red ball of fire fizzing and hissing in the middle of his chest. His
     shirt caught fire and in a moment the corridor was full of sparks and yellow smoke. The
     other sickos backed off in confusion, coughing and choking.
    ‘Follow me,’ Ed yelled and he
     was first out of the door, chopping to left and right with his sword. It was hard to see
     anything and he tripped on a fallen body. Luckily he kept his balance and managed to cut
     through the sickos and get to the stairway. He was about to head down when Adele called
     out.
    ‘Wait!’
    Now what?
Ed turned to look down
     the corridor. Thegreen girl had stopped halfway and was squatting down
     by one of the doorways.
    ‘Come on!’
    Sickos were approaching the girl through the
     smoke. They were lit a demonic red by the still blazing flare.
    ‘Come on!’
    He ran back to grab her, but she
     wouldn’t move. Ed realized it was the doorway where he’d killed the thing
     that had grabbed his leg. He looked at the body on the floor. It wasn’t a sicko.
     It was another girl. Also dressed in green.
    He’d killed her.
    Ed swore. She was missing a hand