Read Online White and Other Tales of Ruin by Tim Lebbon - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Tim Lebbon
Ads: Link
to Charley. And I could say nothing to comfort her. I shook my head, though I had no idea what message I was trying to convey.
Ellie held out her hand and clicked her fingers. Rosalie passed her a nail.
I stepped forward and pressed the board across the door. We had to tilt it so that each end rested across the frame. There were still secretive sounds from inside, like a fox rummaging through a bin late at night. I tried to imagine the scene in the room now but I could not. My mind would not place what I had seen outside into the library, could not stretch to that feat of imagination. I was glad.
For one terrible second I wanted to see. It would only take a kick at the door, a single heave and the whole room would be open to view, and then I would know whatever was in there for the second before it hit me. Jayne perhaps, a white Jayne from elsewhere, holding out her hands so that I could join her once more, just as she had promised on her death bed. I’ll be with you again , she had said, and the words had terrified me and comforted me and kept me going ever since. Sometimes I thought they were all that kept me alive I’ll be with you again.
“ Jayne …”
Ellie brought the hammer down. The sound was explosive and I felt the impact transmitted through the wood and into my arms. I expected another impact a second later from the opposite way, but instead we heard the sound of something scampering through the already shattered window.
Ellie kept hammering until the board held firm, then she started another, and another. She did not stop until most of the door was covered, nails protruding at crazy angles, splinters under her fingernails, sweat running across her face and staining her armpits.
“ Has it gone?” Rosalie asked. “Is it still in there?”
“ Is what still in there, precisely?” I muttered.
We all stood that way for a while, panting with exertion, adrenaline priming us for the chase.
“ I think,” Ellie said after a while, “we should make some plans.”
“ What about Charley?” I asked. They all knew what I meant: we can’t just leave her there; we have to do something; she’d do the same for us .
“ Charley’s dead,” Ellie said, without looking at anyone. “Come on.” She headed for the kitchen.
“ What happened?” Ellie asked.
Hayden was shaking. “I told you. We were checking the rooms, Charley ran in before me and locked the door, I heard glass breaking and …” He trailed off
“ And?”
“ Screams. I heard her screaming. I heard her dying.”
The kitchen fell silent as we all recalled the cries, as if they were still echoing around the manor. They meant different things to each of us For me death always meant Jayne.
“ Okay, this is how I see things,” Ellie said. “There’s a wild animal, or wild animals, out there now.”
“ What wild animals!” Rosalie scoffed. “Mutant badgers come to eat us up? Hedgehogs gone bad?”
“ I don’t know, but pray it is animals. If a person has done all this, then they’ll be able to get in to us. However fucking goofy crazy, they’ll have the intelligence to get in. No way to stop them. Nothing we could do.” She patted the shotgun resting across her thighs as if to reassure herself of its presence.
“ But what animals —”
“ Do you know what’s happening everywhere?” Ellie shouted, not just at doubting Rosie but at us all. “Do you realise that the world’s changing? Every day we wake up there’s a new world facing us. And every day there’re fewer of us left. I mean the big us, the world-wide us, us humans.” Her voice became quieter. “How long before one morning, no one wakes up?”
“ What has what’s happening elsewhere got to do with all this?” I asked, although inside I already had an idea of what Ellie meant. I think maybe I’d known for a while, but now my mind was opening up, my beliefs stretching, levering fantastic truths into place. They fitted; that terrified me.
“ I mean,
Ellie held out her hand and clicked her fingers. Rosalie passed her a nail.
I stepped forward and pressed the board across the door. We had to tilt it so that each end rested across the frame. There were still secretive sounds from inside, like a fox rummaging through a bin late at night. I tried to imagine the scene in the room now but I could not. My mind would not place what I had seen outside into the library, could not stretch to that feat of imagination. I was glad.
For one terrible second I wanted to see. It would only take a kick at the door, a single heave and the whole room would be open to view, and then I would know whatever was in there for the second before it hit me. Jayne perhaps, a white Jayne from elsewhere, holding out her hands so that I could join her once more, just as she had promised on her death bed. I’ll be with you again , she had said, and the words had terrified me and comforted me and kept me going ever since. Sometimes I thought they were all that kept me alive I’ll be with you again.
“ Jayne …”
Ellie brought the hammer down. The sound was explosive and I felt the impact transmitted through the wood and into my arms. I expected another impact a second later from the opposite way, but instead we heard the sound of something scampering through the already shattered window.
Ellie kept hammering until the board held firm, then she started another, and another. She did not stop until most of the door was covered, nails protruding at crazy angles, splinters under her fingernails, sweat running across her face and staining her armpits.
“ Has it gone?” Rosalie asked. “Is it still in there?”
“ Is what still in there, precisely?” I muttered.
We all stood that way for a while, panting with exertion, adrenaline priming us for the chase.
“ I think,” Ellie said after a while, “we should make some plans.”
“ What about Charley?” I asked. They all knew what I meant: we can’t just leave her there; we have to do something; she’d do the same for us .
“ Charley’s dead,” Ellie said, without looking at anyone. “Come on.” She headed for the kitchen.
“ What happened?” Ellie asked.
Hayden was shaking. “I told you. We were checking the rooms, Charley ran in before me and locked the door, I heard glass breaking and …” He trailed off
“ And?”
“ Screams. I heard her screaming. I heard her dying.”
The kitchen fell silent as we all recalled the cries, as if they were still echoing around the manor. They meant different things to each of us For me death always meant Jayne.
“ Okay, this is how I see things,” Ellie said. “There’s a wild animal, or wild animals, out there now.”
“ What wild animals!” Rosalie scoffed. “Mutant badgers come to eat us up? Hedgehogs gone bad?”
“ I don’t know, but pray it is animals. If a person has done all this, then they’ll be able to get in to us. However fucking goofy crazy, they’ll have the intelligence to get in. No way to stop them. Nothing we could do.” She patted the shotgun resting across her thighs as if to reassure herself of its presence.
“ But what animals —”
“ Do you know what’s happening everywhere?” Ellie shouted, not just at doubting Rosie but at us all. “Do you realise that the world’s changing? Every day we wake up there’s a new world facing us. And every day there’re fewer of us left. I mean the big us, the world-wide us, us humans.” Her voice became quieter. “How long before one morning, no one wakes up?”
“ What has what’s happening elsewhere got to do with all this?” I asked, although inside I already had an idea of what Ellie meant. I think maybe I’d known for a while, but now my mind was opening up, my beliefs stretching, levering fantastic truths into place. They fitted; that terrified me.
“ I mean,
Similar Books
