Dominic kicked Minty in the guts as he tried to clamber to his feet, forcing the air from his small lungs in a gigantic howl.
Finn reached out for his gun, every muscle crying out in protest. Inch by inch, his fingertips stretched towards it.
“Dad, please…”
Dominic kicked his son again. And Again. He was killing the kid. His own blood.
“Come on,” Finn told himself. His fingertips wiggled and stretched. As much as he strained, he could not make that final inch he needed to get the gun. It was just out of reach.
His body would move no further.
No. Come on. Please God.
Something beneath Finn shifted and fell. All of a sudden, his body slid to one side and a whole pile of debris moved.
His hand found the gun. Thank you, God!
Or was that you, Marie?
Dominic grabbed a length of copper piping poking out of a toppled brick wall and yanked it free. The end was sharp, and he held it over his shoulder like a javelin. He glared at Minty. “See you in Hell, son.”
“Hey, Asshole,” Finn shouted.
Dominic spun around, almost tripped as Wonder Mutt tangled in his feet.
“This is for Marie.” Finn pulled the trigger. The bullet tore through the knee of Dominic’s good leg, and he dropped to the ground screaming. “Stupid Cockney.”
Finn slumped back into the rubble, gasping. It took almost two minutes before he was able to move again. Agonisingly, he dragged himself towards a nearby shelving unit and climbed it until he was almost on his feet. The whole while Dominic continued to writhe and scream, clutching his knee and bellowing obscenities. Finn ignored the man's agony and instead checked himself over. He’d been shot. Twice. The first time by Dominic had been a flesh wound to his left tricep, but the second bullet—fired by Minty—had struck his back and come out his front. The exit wound was still bleeding.
The kid's messed me up bad.
Minty wept amongst the debris, his skinny body curled up like a foetus. Wonder Mutt sat dutifully by his side, ears pricked up as if waiting for assistance.
“Hey, kid. It’s okay,” Finn called out. “You can get up.”
Minty lifted his head like a newly hatched bird. “You're going to kill me.”
Finn shook his head. “No.”
Gingerly, Minty pulled himself up, still sobbing as he favoured his ribs. His lips had swollen into thick purple sausages from Dominic’s fist crushing against them.
Finn held onto the shelving unit while his head swirled. “Fuck me, I feel like a mule kicked me.”
Minty started crying, hysterically now. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please don’t shoot me, Finn.”
Finn looked at the gun in his hand and let it fall to his side. The weight of it had suddenly become heavy. “I’m not going to shoot you, brother. And if I did, it wouldn’t be in the back.”
“You were going to kill my dad.” Minty wiped away a stream of snot with the back of his hand. “I told you not to kill him.”
Finn huffed. “Excuse me if I don’t label you a hypocrite, but I seem to recall you pulling the trigger yourself.”
Minty shook his head and stared at Katie's body amongst the blackened debris. “I thought he’d be proud of me,” he muttered. “I thought he killed my mum by accident, but you heard him. He killed Katie and your sister too. He was a monster.”
Finn looked down at Dominic and felt sick to his stomach. He should never have let him take Katie. He should never have allowed her to sacrifice herself like that.
I should have done something sooner.
It’s all because of Dominic.
But Finn knew that it had really started with him. His sister's death could be traced back to the day she stood there with her dolly begging her big brother not to abandon her.
“You can kill him now,” said Minty, tears streaming down his cheeks. “You can kill my dad.”
Finn pushed himself away from the rubble and was able to stand on his own. He stumbled over to Dominic and took a closer look at the man. Instead of shouting out curses, Dominic gritted his teeth and said nothing at all. Finn knew he was trying to keep his dignity before he died.
This is it. The reason I'm here instead of at home with Ma and Clive.
I made a promise.
Finn felt the weight of the gun in his hand and let it drop into the rubble.
“I don't understand,” said Minty. “What are you doing?”
“Breaking a promise. And keeping another.”
Finn threaded his way through the rubble and limped out into the road. A blood trail stained the ground behind him and his vision twinkled with inky stars. Death was coming for him. He didn’t want to give another minute to hate. Dominic could live or die; he didn’t care anymore.
No one had any time left.
The final moments were perhaps the only ones that had ever mattered. Finn was glad not to spend them killing.
“Where are you going?” Minty called after him.
“Just somewhere.”
“Can I come?”
Finn stopped and turned around to face the child who had shot him. “Yes,” he said. “Of course you can come. Bring the dog, too.”
Beginnings
By the time they reached the woods at the end of the industrial road, Finn could no longer walk on his own. Minty had to prop him up and help him with every step. Wonder Mutt had to keep waiting for them to catch up.
Minty knew Finn was dying.
And he knew it was his fault.
I shot him in the back. Why did I do that?
Because I thought I was supposed to save my dad.
I didn’t see the man who was really looking after me.
Minty kept wanting to sob and cry, but every time he even so much as attempted to apologise, Finn would tell him to be quiet. The man didn’t seem to mind that he was dying, he just wanted to get to where he was going. Which turned out to be that patch of woodland they had seen before finding Dominic.
“That’s it, I knew I could get there,” said Finn. “Thanks, Minty. Just help me over to that log over there.”
Minty carried Finn over to a fallen tree and eased him down. The log was thick, but Minty knew nothing about trees to know what it was.
“It’s an oak tree,” said Finn, as if reading his mind. “Some of them live for hundreds of years. Even they can’t survive with so little sun.”
Minty looked at Finn. Although he was still alive, Finn’s mind seemed far away.
“And that’s a willow tree,” said Finn. “We have those back home in Ireland. There must be a stream nearby because they like the wet. And I think… yes, that over there is an alder.”
Minty frowned. “How you know so much about trees?”
Finn seem to come back to reality and smiled. He looked at Minty as he spoke. “Marie and I used to spend all our time in the woods when I was about your age. We used to borrow nature books from the library and try to identify all the insects and trees we could find. It was the last time I was ever happy, Minty. Almost forty, and I stopped being happy at twelve. I feel her here, though, you know? If there’s one place I can let go of everything, it’s here amongst the trees. It’s more than I deserve.”
Minty sat down on the log beside Finn. “I’m sorry about Marie.”
“Me too.”
Minty stroked Wonder Mutt on the head as he thought about things. “I know you didn’t save Marie, but you saved me, Finn. And Wonder Mutt. We were both suffering until you came and rescued us. I think that God judges us on who we are when we die, not who we were before.”
Finn laughed, but there was no humour in it. “You know who I was before, Minty? I was a guy who set bombs and walked away. What kind of a coward does that? I only came here to escape my boss who wanted me dead—just wanted to save my own worthless arse.”
“You could have gone anywhere,” said Minty. “You came home to your family.”
“I had nowhere else to go. Maybe I just wanted
to see a friendly face before I went to Hell, but instead, I found my sister’s body. For the best. I don’t think she would recognise me anymore. The last job I did for my boss killed a girl about your age, Minty. Her name was Jenny. I tried to save her, but it made no difference. I see her face every time I close my eyes.” He started to cry. “Every night she presses her soft cheek against mine and asks me why I do such wicked things, and every night I can’t give her an answer. Part of me looks forward to this all being over, but what’s coming next for me has to be worse. I know it.”
“Maybe there’s just nothing,” said Minty. It was an idea he had tried to ignore, but every now and then the despair of impending nothingness crept in and smothered him. Now that it was so close it was almost debilitating. “Perhaps being dead is like before we’re born, you know? We can’t even think about it. You try to grasp a glimpse from before your birth, but all you see is black. Maybe all you have to worry about is darkness.”
Finn smiled. His face had turned pale, even beneath the film of ash and sweat. “You think? You think it will be peaceful?”
Minty hated to admit it, but he nodded. “I think peace is probably all there is.”
“Are you scared, kid?”
“Terrified,” he admitted. Finn had begun to tilt on the log. Blood drip-dripped from his lower back to the crisp leaves below. He didn’t have long left. “I’m scared of being alone at the end.”
Finn’s eyes moved, but the rest of his body stayed still. “You won’t be alone, kid.”
And then Finn told him.
Finn had died less than two minutes later, slumping sideways onto the log and rolling off onto the floor. Minty placed him on his back and covered him in leaves beneath the willow tree. Wonder Mutt gave him a lick goodbye.
Then Minty had set off, leaving the woods and the dead Irishman behind him. He walked quickly through the shadowy industrial estate, anxious without an adult to protect him. He thought about Edward back at the police station and wondered how many more monsters like him lurked close by. Wonder Mutt couldn’t fight off them all. The streets remained quiet though, and when he reached the end of the road, he saw that they would never be busy again.
The horizon seemed to shimmer like a haze over a hot road. Something rose several feet above the landscape, almost hovering. Something dark and grey.
Wonder Mutt yipped.
The tar had arrived.
The edges of Minty’s world began to roll inwards, and he watched in horrified amazement as a distant tower block began to lean perilously as its base turned to viscous ooze. People screamed, far off, but no one came his way. He knew that people would begin to run soon, but it would be pointless. Why not stand and accept their fate now? The world had mere hours remaining—who wanted to stick around for that?
Yet, Minty turned away from the disappearing horizon and went the other way. He didn’t want to be alone at the end.
So he kept walking, Wonder Mutt beside him. He passed by Latif’s, but didn’t check to see if his father still lay amongst the rubble. An hour later he passed by the Hobby Horse, and saw the men still inside. The Beverley Brothers hadn’t hit them. They would die anyway. He could warn them how close death was, but he owed them nothing. He didn’t want to be alone, but neither did he want to be with any of them.
So Minty kept walking. He tried to remember the directions Finn had given him with his dying breaths, but wasn’t sure he was going the right way. It wasn’t until he spotted an old lady and a man out on their front lawn that he started to have hope. When the old woman looked at him and spoke with an Irish accent, he knew he was in the right place.
We both ended up with families we didn’t deserve, said Finn. But for different reasons.
“Can I help ye, lad?” the old woman said.
“My name is Mikey. I think I met your son, Finn?”
The old woman looked at the man stood with her and they exchanged a sad glance. “Aye, Finley is my boy. Don’t suppose he’ll be following along shortly?”
Mikey shook his head sadly. “He wanted me to tell you that it’s done.”
The old woman nodded her head, tears in her eyes. “Thank you, lad. Would you and your doggie like to stay and have a bite to eat?”
Minty swallowed. “The tar is coming. It’ll be here in hours.”
“Then we should eat fast.”
The man, who Mikey assumed was Clive chuckled and gave his mother a quick hug. “I hope my brother didn’t cause you too much grief, kid.”
Kid.
Mikey shook his head. “He saved me.”
That seemed to make both of them happy. The old woman motioned for Mikey and Wonder Mutt to join them, and as he took the few steps to cross the lawn with Wonder Mutt in tow, he saw a mound of dirt with a shovel sticking out of it. Marie. He really had liked her.
You deserve a family like mine, Finn had said. And they deserve a son like you. Go, be with them.
Mikey gathered Wonder Mutt and went inside with the two strangers who would be his family for the next few hours. Suddenly, he didn’t feel quite so afraid. Soon the darkness would come for him, but he would not be alone.
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Iain Rob Wright is one of the UK's most successful horror and suspense writers, with novels including the critically acclaimed, THE FINAL WINTER; the disturbing bestseller, ASBO; and the wicked screamfest, THE HOUSEMATES.
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Copyright © 2017 by Iain Rob Wright
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