Chapter Seventeen
The Lost Girls
Anne Jenkins didn’t know what hit her. As she opened her tear filled eyes and felt the ache in her forehead, she realised that it must have been the dashboard. Then she felt the blood on her face and the pain in her nose. She reached up with a shaky hand to touch her nose. It felt very tender, and she couldn’t breathe properly. It was probably broken. What had happened? She couldn’t remember where she was. She felt confused. Then it dawned on her.
They must have crashed.
It was like a switch. Until that moment, the world around her had been silent and still, now in an instant, it was full of screams and shouting. Anne Jenkins remembered exactly who and where she was, and she was suddenly filled with shock and fear.
“The girls!” she cried out, twisting around in the front seat of the minibus.
Behind her, Anne found utter turmoil and confusion. The girls were a sea of arms, legs and bodies all wriggling and twisting about. They were screaming and crying and shouting. Everywhere was broken glass and upturned car seats that had been torn free in the impact. And the bags and holdalls they had brought with them had burst open, and the girls threw about their kit and their hockey sticks in their panic to get free. Only Rowena Douglas was the right way up, sitting at the back of the bus with a stunned and dazed expression on her face. Then someone’s hockey skirt landed on her head, covering her face, and she began to scream in panic.
Anne Jenkins scrambled over her seat and pulled at the girls, trying to get them all free. “Calm down! Calm down!” she shouted. “It’s all over! We’ve had an accident, but it’s all, all right! Calm down!”
She threw a holdall out of one of the broken windows, and then Jemma appeared, her short and curly blonde hair even more tangled as she climbed the right way up, gasping for breath. Then another girl appeared, then another. Christine, Becky, Bernice, Sophia, Amy and Linda. Anne identified them all, reaching down to pull another girl up. Yes, there was Vanessa, and Samantha. Debbie appeared next. Then Paula and Jane. One by one they popped up, battered, dazed and shocked. Karen and Jo were the last.
The screaming began to subside. Vanessa pulled the skirt from Rowena’s head and slapped her. Rowena stared back at Vanessa with a surprised pout as she rubbed her face, but at least now there was silence. They all sat about in the wreckage, breathing hard, and looking around at one another.
Anne Jenkins stared at them all. She was so happy that they were all alive and looked un-hurt. Yes, there were scratches and their clothes were all pulled out of place, and by tomorrow they would all be very sore from the aches and bruises they had. But they were all alive and safe.
Oh, thank God.
“What happened, Miss?” Karen asked, brushing her long brown hair from her face and eyes.
“We crashed, that’s all,” Anne replied. Then she raised her voice. “Are you all alright?”
Most of the girls nodded and said yes. Anne was beginning to feel relieved.
Then Debbie said, “My arm hurts.”
And Samantha said, “My ankle hurts too, Miss. It hurts real bad.”
“Alright, girls, I’ll have a look at you. But I think we better get out first.”
That was when Becky stared out one of the broken windows and said, “Where’s the road, Miss?”
Anne Jenkins turned and stared out of the window. What she saw shocked her.
They were in a forest. The sun was high in the sky and it cast bright sunbeams through the high foliage. The sunbeams danced about over the grass as the trees moved with the slight wind. It was quiet and beautiful, but totally wrong.
It should have been the M60.
The minibus had hit one of the large trees in the forest. It was absolutely wrecked. Anne Jenkins sighed with dismay when she saw it properly. They had only bought it last year, and it was still virtually brand new. The Head would kill her when she found out.
It took a while for them all to get out. Samantha was the last. Her ankle was broken. Anne knew as soon as she saw it. They had to carry her out and sit her against one of the big trees. It wasn’t the only break. Debbie’s arm was broken too. She held it tenderly as she stared around at all the trees. They all stood about and stared.
Anne Jenkins did the same. She couldn’t understand it. As she cleaned the blood from her nose and face with her handkerchief, she wondered where the motorway was. And where were all the buildings, the Business Parks and Retail Centres? Where were the houses and the people? Where was Manchester? In fact, where the Hell were they?
She became aware that some of the girls were missing. She looked around quickly, and saw Paula and Vanessa walking about among the trees, staring up at the high branches. Rowena and the tiny Jemma were doing the same on the other side of their wrecked minibus.
Anne almost panicked. “Don’t wander off!” she shouted quickly. “Come back here! Now!”
All the girls turned and stared at her. Anne was suddenly conscious of the nervous sound to her voice. She cleared her throat and said as calmly as she could, “I don’t want anyone getting lost, okay. Now come back.”
Reluctantly, the girls did as she asked. Anne looked at them all, counting them all off in her mind. There was still one missing.
“Where’s Becky?” Anne said anxiously. “Has anyone seen Becky?”
“I’m here, Miss! It’s alright!” a voice called from inside the minibus.
“What are you doing in there?” Anne asked, going over to the minibus and peering inside.
Becky was on the floor rummaging about among the wreckage. “I’m trying to find my glasses,” she said.
Anne relaxed a little. She tried to calm herself. Her head hurt and her nose was still bleeding. At least it wasn’t broken, after all. She dabbed at it with her already stained handkerchief. She was frightened, she admitted it. But wouldn’t anybody be frightened in her position? Here she was, all alone, in the middle of a forest in a place somewhere she didn’t know, with fifteen sixteen-year-old girls in her care. What was she supposed to do?
“Someone’s coming, Miss,” Amy said.
Anne turned around and stared. Behind her, Becky popped up at one of the broken windows, her glasses in her hands. She quickly cleaned them on her shirt and put them on. Like her teacher and the rest of the girls, she stared at those that approached.
It wasn’t real.
It was like a scene from the tales of King Arthur. Men on horses wearing armour and carrying shields galloped towards them. There were wagons with cages upon them, and beside them ran more men. Some of them carried long poles with spikes on the end of them, while others held nets strung out between them.
Nets. Nets and cages.
Anne Jenkins felt her stomach drop through the soles of her feet.
“Run!” she screamed, pushing the nearest girls into motion. “Run! Run like Hell, damn it!”
The stillness and tranquillity of the forest was suddenly filled with the screams of girls, the shouts of men and the sounds of horse’s hooves. Everyone ran in different directions. It was all out, unrestrained panic. Only poor Samantha couldn’t run. She could hardly stand on her broken ankle. She screamed in terror as she saw her friends scatter and the men rushing towards her. Anne had almost forgotten her. She ran back, grabbed her, and half carried her as she tried to run. They didn’t get far.
Men and horses rushed by the wrecked minibus, a net was thrown, and Anne and Samantha fell under its weight. In a second, the men were upon them, dragging them away, kicking and screaming. Anne tried to fight with them. She bit, scratched and kicked as hard as she could, but then one of the men shoved the blunt end of his pike against her head and she gave up the fight. Her unconscious body was dragged along the ground and thrown into one of the cage wagons that drew up. Samantha was treated no better. She screamed in agony as she landed on her foot. No one seemed to care.
Other girls fared no better. Debbie was quickly overtaken by the horse
s and kicked to the ground by the men who rode them. With her broken arm she was easily taken. Christine and Paula fell under another net. Jo and Linda were surrounded by men who chased them as if this was all a game. Their eyes were filled with delight, and as the girls were brought down, they were manhandled and groped mercilessly before being dragged to the waiting cage wagons.
The forest was filled with screams and shouts as girls and men ran about in all directions. But not all the girls would be taken so easily.
Like all the girls on the school hockey team, Amy was young and fit. But she was also the school champion at middle distance running. For the school she ran to win, but now she was running for her life. She ran like the wind, and those that chased her quickly fell behind. They soon gave up, and collapsed to the ground exhausted. Amy darted among the trees, never slowing down for an instant, her silver blonde hair flowing like a long tail behind her.
Bernice also ran as fast as she could. She, too, was fast, and the two men chasing her were either too heavy, or too unfit to keep up with her speed. She was beginning to believe that she could get away when she heard the horse. It came at her from the side, and she saw it too late. The rider’s foot caught her squarely in the back and she flew through the air, landing on her face.
She lay in the grass, stunned for just a moment. Then she spun round, and propped herself up on her hands. She sat there on the grass, panting breathlessly. She saw the men that had chased her standing near her, and behind her the third man dismounted from his horse. He looked like a Knight, with a breast-plate and a cloak. There was no one else nearby, and all three men had the same expression and look in their eyes.
Bernice was suddenly aware of her short skirt and her bare legs. Her sister, Vanessa, was always telling her that her skirts were too short. She said she would get into trouble. This was it.
Bernice screamed and tried to scamper away. It was like a signal, and the men fell on her like animals, pulling and tearing at her clothes. She screamed and fought, biting and kicking.
The men were too occupied in what they did to notice the arrival of a newcomer. But Bernice saw her. It was almost dream-like. As the men pinned her down, trying to pry her legs apart, Bernice saw a woman with long red hair appear and stand over them. She was dressed in black, and she held a sword in her hands, its point was downward. She looked very calm and purposeful.
As Bernice stared, the woman thrust the sword down into the back of one of the men. He grunted and arched his back, his face twisted in pain, and then he fell sideways to the ground. One of the other men turned in time to receive the sword through his throat. Bernice saw it come out the back of his neck. It seemed to stick as the man fell, and it took a moment for the woman to pull her sword out, pushing down on the dying man with her foot. During that time, the third man had let go of Bernice and rolled clear.
The Knight jumped up and drew his sword. “A Destroyer!” he bellowed to anyone who could hear. “There are Destroyers in the forest!”
There was the clash of swords as he and the woman he called a Destroyer fought. Bernice watched in fascination. The fight only lasted a few seconds. As the Knight raised his sword arm, someone grabbed it from behind. Bernice saw that it was another woman, dressed in black, or maybe dark brown. She also held a sword just like the first woman. Her hair was brown. The Knight turned in surprise at the grip on his arm. It was his last act. A moment later and the red haired woman had thrust her sword into his chest. It clanged as it punched through his breast plate. He was dead before he hit the ground.
There was sudden silence. Bernice lay on the ground among the bodies and the blood. She was shocked by what she had seen, but somehow, she didn’t feel scared. Even with both the women the dead man had called Destroyers now standing over her, their swords in their hands, she didn’t feel threatened by them.
The woman with the red hair reached out her free hand to Bernice.
“I am Kai-Tai. Come with me, or stay here and die. But choose quickly.”
In the Shadow of Mountains: The Lost Girls Page 18
