Strangers

32

It might have been hours later, it might have only been minutes. Scott wasn’t sure. He was sitting in the hallway in almost complete darkness, leaning with his back against his bedroom door. The house was still largely silent, but the noise outside had increased again. There’d been more traffic on the road, pretty much all of it heading out of Thussock now. He’d seen some of it from the kitchen window. It had looked almost exclusively military.

‘You there, Scott?’

He sat up fast, not sure if he’d imagined Michelle’s voice. He moved towards the living room, crawling through empty beer cans. ‘I’m here.’

‘Let me out, love.’

‘You know I can’t.’

‘But I’m scared in here.’

‘And I’m scared out here. This is the only way to be sure, you know it is.’

‘My face hurts. I think you broke my nose.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘I’m tired of this, love. I’m tired of you hurting me.’

‘I had to do it. You know that.’

‘I know.’

‘You were hysterical. You were scaring Phoebe and George.’

‘I know.’

‘It won’t happen again.’

‘You said that last time.’

‘This is different.’

‘You said that last time too.’

‘I mean it, Chelle. You believe me?’

A pause, then ‘I believe you.’

Scott looked up at the door. He wanted to see her and he thought about opening it, but he knew it was a risk he couldn’t afford to take.

‘Are the kids okay, Scott?’

‘They’re fine.’

‘Can I talk to them.’

‘They’re in their rooms.’

‘What about George?’

‘He’s with Phoebe.’

‘Okay.’ Another pause. ‘What are we going to do, love?’

‘You keep asking me that. I don’t know… I’m not sure. I think we should just stay here like we planned.’

‘I thought I heard more helicopters.’

‘You did.’

‘If they’re going, shouldn’t we go too?’

‘If they’re going then that’s a good thing, isn’t it? It means they’re clearing out. It means it’s over.’

‘I don’t know, love… I’m not sure.’

‘Trust me.’

Another pause, then ‘Can I come out and talk to you? I really want to see you.’

‘I already told you, Chelle. You have to stay in there. We have to keep apart for now, just until we’re sure it’s safe…’

‘But how will we know?’

Her questions were starting to annoy him. He could feel himself tensing up again.

‘We’ll know.’

‘But, Scott, I just think—’

‘Shut up,’ he yelled suddenly, and he banged his fist against the living room door in anger. He heard her sob. ‘I’m sorry, Chelle… I didn’t meant to shout. Just be patient. Just do what I say, okay. I’ll go and see if I can find out what’s happening later.’

She might have spoken again, but another helicopter drifting overhead drowned out her words.

Scott needed to pee. He went to the bathroom and emptied his bladder. He washed his face with ice-cold water. I need to stay focused. He leant his head against the mirror and breathed in deeply, trying to stay calm and in control. What did he do now? Had he truly backed them into a corner here like they’d said, or was there still a way out? The waiting was unbearable.

When he went back out into the hallway, Tammy was there. ‘Jesus Christ,’ he gasped. ‘What the hell are you doing? You scared the shit out of me.’

‘Sorry,’ she mumbled. In the low light he could just about make out her face. She was crying.

‘What are you doing back here?’

No reply.

‘Where’ve you been?’

Still nothing.

‘You’ve got a fucking nerve coming back after what you said to me. You’ve no fucking respect.’

‘Sorry,’ she said again. ‘I was wrong.’

Scott shook his head. In a night filled with impossibility, this was the hardest thing of all to take. ‘Wait… you’re apologising? Fuck me, I’ve heard it all now.’

She didn’t react. She didn’t even move other than to lift a hand and wipe her eyes. She cleared her throat. ‘I should have listened to you. I was scared… I didn’t know where I was going out there. I just ran and ran… almost got lost.’

‘But you come back?’

‘I wanted to see you. I felt so alone out there… there was no one looking out for me, no one protecting me. It made me realise I’d been stupid. I know I’ve been a bitch to you, Scott, but…’

‘What?’

‘But when I was out there, completely bloody terrified, I realised how much we all need you. How much I need you. All along you’ve been trying to keep this family together, but I just couldn’t see it. I was angry. I was stupid.’

He leant back against the wall and stared at her. ‘Why leave it until now? You could have made this all so much easier for everyone.’

‘I know,’ she said, and she took a step forward. ‘I wish I could have the time again.’ He could see her more clearly now. Her skin was pale, porcelain-like, her hair falling in soft curls down either side of her face. She’d been a little kid when he and Michelle had first got together; a snotty-faced rebel full of resentment and spite. Christ, she’d made things difficult for all of them. And though he’d certainly noticed it before today, her gradual transformation was now complete. She was a woman now, her emotional maturity finally catching up with the physical changes her body had undergone over the last few years. ‘I wanted to make it up to you, Scott,’ she said.

She started to unbutton her shirt, letting it fall back off her shoulders. He stared at her pert breasts, not sagging like her mother’s. Cellulite and stretch-mark free skin. Her young, inexperienced body. He checked himself. The dulling effect of the beer faded quickly. Was she playing him? ‘Do you think I’m fucking stupid?’

‘Nope,’ she said, and she bit her lip as she watched him watching her.

‘This is bullshit.’

‘It’s not, I swear. I’m sorry.’

And then he remembered. He cursed himself for being so easily distracted. ‘Wait… this isn’t right… Did you see anyone else while you were out there?’

‘What do you mean?’ Her voice was light and airy, strangely soothing.

‘You know exactly what I mean. Are you infected?’

She laughed. A cute nervous giggle. ‘I didn’t see anyone else. I got halfway to Thussock then turned back because I was scared and I didn’t know what else to do.’ She took another step closer, almost touching him now, and took his hand in hers and held it against her chest. Her breasts felt so smooth, so soft and so cold. ‘We might not have long left. I wanted to come back and show you how sorry I am. I wanted to make it up to you.’

She stood on tiptoes and kissed him gently on the cheek, then pulled him into the kitchen. He followed at first, then stopped and pulled back, yanking his hand from hers. ‘You’re infected.’

‘I didn’t see anybody out there, honest I didn’t.’ She hopped up onto the kitchen table and sat and watched him. He was holding back, obviously unsure, and she wasn’t surprised. She’d expected this. Yet more traffic thundered past outside. She opened her arms to him. ‘Come on, Scott… please…’

He grabbed her wrist when she lunged for one of the knives in the knife block on the table. She screamed with pain as he twisted her arm around behind her, forcing her up onto her feet and pushing her against the wall. He pressed his full weight against her. She was right, he did want her, had done for a while, but it was too late for that. ‘You dumb fucking kid,’ he said. ‘Did you really think I’d fall for that bullshit?’

She screamed again, sobbing now for him to release her. ‘You’re hurting me… please.’

‘Do you think I care? After all the grief you’ve caused?’

‘It wasn’t me, it was—’ she started to say and he yanked her wrist upwards again, threatening to pop her shoulder from its socket.

‘You’re all as bad as each other,’ he whispered, his mouth just millimetres from her ear, his weight crushing her. ‘I don’t know how I managed to stay sane living with so many moaning, miserable bitches.’

‘Let her go, Scott.’

Scott looked around, surprised. Michelle was standing in the kitchen doorway. Christ, she looked bad. One side of her face was lumpy and misshapen, her right eye black and swollen, almost completely shut.

‘How did you get out?’

‘You said we’d need double-glazing, remember?’ she said, her voice slurred and her words hard to discern. ‘You were right. I forced the French window open. Now let her go.’

‘Fuck you,’ he said, turning back to face Tammy.

‘No, Scott, fuck you.’

Michelle smacked him on the back of his head with the claw hammer he’d used to seal up the doors. He let go of Tammy and slowly turned around, almost tripping over his own feet. He lifted a hand to his head and looked at the blood on his fingers, glistening in the half-light. He looked confused. Hurt. ‘Chelle, why did you—?’ She swung the hammer around again, shattering his jaw. Scott crumpled to the ground and she reached for Tammy’s hand and pulled her away. ‘We’re going. Find the car keys.’

Without waiting for her response Michelle ran upstairs to get the others.

Ten minutes and she’d managed to prise open the bedroom door and get enough of their stuff together. They loaded it into the Zafira, still more helicopters circling overhead as they worked. The road out of Thussock was a steady stream of traffic now, an exodus. The military retreat told them all they needed to know.

‘Where are we going, Mum?’ Phoebe asked.

‘Home.’

‘What, to—’

‘Redditch, yes. Home, home. We’ll go and stay with Granddad.’

‘What about Scott?’

‘What about him?’

She started the engine, waited for another truck to pass, then pulled out onto the road. She glanced back in the rear view mirror at the house they were leaving and felt relief, nothing else.

They’d barely driven more than half a mile when they followed a bend in the road and reached the military blockade. The other vehicles had made it through, but she was unidentified and was flagged down. Guns and soldiers everywhere. For the briefest of moments she wondered if Scott had been right. Should they have stayed back at the house? Had she made a huge mistake?

Familiarly faceless figures appeared at every window. A solider opened her door and pulled her out. George began to scream. ‘Follow me,’ a voice barked. ‘All of you, now!’

Too tired, outgunned and outnumbered to even think about resisting, Michelle pulled her children close and did as she was told. The family were pushed roughly into the back of a large trailer which began to move, a lab on wheels from what they could see. There were no explanations as DNA swabs were taken from the inside of their mouths and blood samples drawn, but they were beaten now, way past the point of being able to resist. The vehicle began to pick up speed, part of a convoy heading south.

It felt like forever but it could only have been a minute or two later when one of the faceless figures took off her mask. ‘All clear,’ she said. ‘Lucky escape there, Mrs Griffiths.’

‘Lucky?’ Michelle said, still struggling to speak with a mouth full of broken teeth.

‘Yes, lucky. You managed to get away before the accident.’

‘What accident?’

‘The accident at the fracking site.’

‘When?’

The woman paused, glanced at a colleague, then looked at her watch. ‘Anytime now.’

Two low flying jets raced over the convoy, travelling in the opposite direction, back towards Thussock. And in the distance, the infected town died. A moment of silence, then a series of explosions and chain reactions tore the place apart. From the fracking site to the leisure centre, from the centre of town all the way to the grey house on the road south out of Thussock, the place was consumed by fire, heat, and intense white light.