concentration on his ears. He waited some more. Still nothing. Then he could hear her whispering to him from the shadows, telling him to come, urgently. He opened his eyes and looked. There was no one there.
He began to inch forward, into the thicker bushes growing against the wall of the building, following her obvious trail, where she had flattened everything down. When he got through to the wall he realised she was underneath the building itself. It didn’t look like it was raised off the ground, but it must have been, because she had pulled away a section of fine mesh grilling, about two foot high, revealing some kind of space beneath. She had managed to wriggle underneath the actual building.
He followed her reluctantly into a tight, claustrophobic space like a coffin. He was crawling on compacted mud, into the total darkness. He got past her, his hands feeling the dirt ahead, his head pressed against the floor above, then waited while she pulled the mesh back into place and crept up beside him. ‘We have a drill,’ she whispered into his ear. ‘We go through problems and what to do … Jean-Marc made me do it every month. One plan was to hide here.’
‘And then what?’ he hissed. ‘What’s the rest of the plan?’
‘No more. I don’t have any more ideas.’
‘So why the fuck are we here?’
‘I don’t know. I’m terrified. Sorry. I’m completely terrified. We can crawl ahead, towards the light …’ His eyes must have been adjusting. He could see she was pointing now, see that there was light coming in from other sections of mesh, right over at the other side of the building. ‘We’ll be able to see the area behind the house,’ she said. ‘See what they’re doing …’
‘What good will that do?’ he hissed. ‘We should get out of here. Run.’
‘Not without Janine. And anyway, there’s nowhere to run to. The best we can do is hide until they leave …’
‘Not under here, then. Somewhere where we can breathe … until we can get help …’
‘How will we get help?’
‘There’s no emergency line … or anything like that?’
‘No. There’s a satellite phone facility at the other end of the island. About four hours away, on foot, by daylight …’
‘That’s it, then. We should get to it.’
‘We need to get to Janine first.’ She started to crawl ahead. He rested his head on the mud and tried to control the leaping panic in his gut. Then, very carefully, very slowly, he followed her. She had stopped about three feet back from another section of metal mesh, this one at the other side of the building, he guessed. He came up beside her and she pointed in silence. He looked through the holes and could see the area outside the big house, the flattened, cleared area between the lab block, the house and the summerhouse, beautifully lit by the bright full moon. There were shapes lying there, right in the middle. As he tried to make out what they were he saw two men emerge from a rear door to the house. They were carrying a body. A lifeless body. They dumped it with effort on top of the other shapes. ‘They’re all bodies,’ she spluttered. ‘They’re all bodies.’ She started to sob again, very quietly.
He felt very cold, frozen, like his blood had stopped flowing. He had never felt fear like this in his life. Not even close. It was completely numbing. He put his head down on the hard surface and started to shiver. For a minute or more he couldn’t do anything else. Beside him he could see her face – about twenty inches away from his. She was crying silently. ‘What do we do?’ she started to say. ‘What do we do?’ She kept whispering it, like she was going to really start kicking and shrieking. He took a big breath and reached a hand out to her. She jumped when he touched her, banging her head off the roof. Her eyes turned to him like those of some animal, totally overcome with fear.
‘Shut up,’ he whispered. He put a finger on her lips. ‘Shut the fuck up.
He began to inch forward, into the thicker bushes growing against the wall of the building, following her obvious trail, where she had flattened everything down. When he got through to the wall he realised she was underneath the building itself. It didn’t look like it was raised off the ground, but it must have been, because she had pulled away a section of fine mesh grilling, about two foot high, revealing some kind of space beneath. She had managed to wriggle underneath the actual building.
He followed her reluctantly into a tight, claustrophobic space like a coffin. He was crawling on compacted mud, into the total darkness. He got past her, his hands feeling the dirt ahead, his head pressed against the floor above, then waited while she pulled the mesh back into place and crept up beside him. ‘We have a drill,’ she whispered into his ear. ‘We go through problems and what to do … Jean-Marc made me do it every month. One plan was to hide here.’
‘And then what?’ he hissed. ‘What’s the rest of the plan?’
‘No more. I don’t have any more ideas.’
‘So why the fuck are we here?’
‘I don’t know. I’m terrified. Sorry. I’m completely terrified. We can crawl ahead, towards the light …’ His eyes must have been adjusting. He could see she was pointing now, see that there was light coming in from other sections of mesh, right over at the other side of the building. ‘We’ll be able to see the area behind the house,’ she said. ‘See what they’re doing …’
‘What good will that do?’ he hissed. ‘We should get out of here. Run.’
‘Not without Janine. And anyway, there’s nowhere to run to. The best we can do is hide until they leave …’
‘Not under here, then. Somewhere where we can breathe … until we can get help …’
‘How will we get help?’
‘There’s no emergency line … or anything like that?’
‘No. There’s a satellite phone facility at the other end of the island. About four hours away, on foot, by daylight …’
‘That’s it, then. We should get to it.’
‘We need to get to Janine first.’ She started to crawl ahead. He rested his head on the mud and tried to control the leaping panic in his gut. Then, very carefully, very slowly, he followed her. She had stopped about three feet back from another section of metal mesh, this one at the other side of the building, he guessed. He came up beside her and she pointed in silence. He looked through the holes and could see the area outside the big house, the flattened, cleared area between the lab block, the house and the summerhouse, beautifully lit by the bright full moon. There were shapes lying there, right in the middle. As he tried to make out what they were he saw two men emerge from a rear door to the house. They were carrying a body. A lifeless body. They dumped it with effort on top of the other shapes. ‘They’re all bodies,’ she spluttered. ‘They’re all bodies.’ She started to sob again, very quietly.
He felt very cold, frozen, like his blood had stopped flowing. He had never felt fear like this in his life. Not even close. It was completely numbing. He put his head down on the hard surface and started to shiver. For a minute or more he couldn’t do anything else. Beside him he could see her face – about twenty inches away from his. She was crying silently. ‘What do we do?’ she started to say. ‘What do we do?’ She kept whispering it, like she was going to really start kicking and shrieking. He took a big breath and reached a hand out to her. She jumped when he touched her, banging her head off the roof. Her eyes turned to him like those of some animal, totally overcome with fear.
‘Shut up,’ he whispered. He put a finger on her lips. ‘Shut the fuck up.
Similar Books
