The Sacrifice

by Charlie Higson

  Hayden, Partha and Kinsey moved out of hiding and gingerly crossed the road, creeping nearer to the siege. Ed watched as first one then another of the sickos stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at them.

  The sickos were a mixed bunch of all ages, ranging from older teenagers to mothers and fathers in their sixties. You never saw them much older than that. Ed assumed that pensioners had found it hardest to survive the illness and the madness that came on its heels.

  As well as being mixed ages, this lot were also in various different stages of decay. Some looked hardly touched, just pale-skinned and red round the nose and eyes, with dry lips and the odd spot or rash. If he hadn’t known better Ed might have thought they were suffering from nothing worse than the flu.

  Others looked like animated corpses, their flesh green and rotten, eaten away, with horrible growths and boils and blisters. Hair missing, ears and noses missing, lips gone.

  He knew they weren’t zombies. They weren’t the living dead. But a lot of the kids called them that.

  It suited them.

  His head was aching. Was he doing the right thing? He had casually asked Hayden and the others to go and act as decoys. He knew how tense they’d be feeling as the sickos took the bait. Hayden was fast and not stupid. She’d know what to do and could easily outrun these diseased creeps.

  It was still dangerous, though.

  Hayden called out to the girl in the window, told her what was happening. She nodded frantically.

  More and more sickos were becoming aware of the new arrivals. One by one they began to leave off their assault on the office doors and focus their attention on the three girls.

  And now they started to move, sniffing the air, salivating, growing agitated by the scent of young flesh. Some shook violently; others hissed; one actually had a fit and lay in the road thrashing about like a landed fish.

  ‘Go on,’ Ed murmured. ‘Fresh meat. Go get it … ’

  Hayden’s team had stopped, scared to go any closer; they waited nervously for the sickos to come to them.

  ‘Hold on,’ said Ed, ‘just a bit longer. Let them all get a good sniff of you.’

  One sicko, bolder and fitter than the rest, moved ahead of the shuffling pack, striding on long legs, head held high. Finally he broke into a sort of half-run, stiff-legged and awkward, like a drunk trying to look sober.

  At last Hayden’s nerve broke and she retreated, moving quickly backwards. It seemed to trigger something in the bulk of the sickos; they came alive, keen to be first to the kill. They moved as a pack, keeping pace with the long-legged father. Hayden was forced to run now, she and her team looking back over their shoulders to make sure they were being followed.

  Ed’s group had ducked down completely out of sight. Kyle was still caressing his axe, a big heavy thing he’d recently discovered in a storeroom. It was designed for crushing and splitting armour in battle. Very different to the executioner’s axe he’d been ready to use the other day.

  Or had he? How much of that had been for show? He was a vicious hulk, with a cruel sense of humour. The best boy to have by your side in a fight, though.

  Kyle leant over and sneaked a look round the end of the wall.

  ‘Well?’ Ed asked.

  ‘They ain’t all left. Some have held back. Too interested in the girl.’

  ‘What d’you reckon? Can we take them?’

  ‘Reckon so,’ said Kyle, and he turned to face the others. ‘You up for it?’

  They all nodded, gripping their weapons tighter. Macca had a crossbow. He slotted a bolt into it, shuffled up the wall to see over the top and levelled it at the sickos.

  ‘You want me to come with or hold back?’ he asked. ‘Pick ’em off from here?’

  ‘Hold back, Macca.’ Ed gave the order. ‘We need someone to stay outside and be our eyes and ears on the street. Will, you’ve got a crossbow too, you stay with him. We’re gonna have to go inside and I don’t think your bows’ll be a lot of use in there.’

  ‘Sure, OK,’ said Will and he took his place next to Macca, aiming over the wall. Ed, Kyle and Adele joined them, quickly taking in the situation.

  ‘Wait for it,’ Ed whispered. There were three stragglers limping after Hayden’s group that looked like they might give up and turn back. Ed pointed to them, and Macca and Will got the message. They switched their aim and loosed a couple of shots. One bolt thudded into the back of a fat mother, who grunted and collapsed into a bollard. The second bolt took out a waddling father and, before the last sicko knew what was happening, Ed skittered over lightly, moving fast on the balls of his feet, and plunged his sword into his side, just below the ribs. As the father gasped and dropped to his knees, Ed stabbed him again in the neck.

  Ed looked down the road, checking to make sure that the rest of the sickos were still following Hayden’s group. They were. Like a pack of foxhounds, they were doggedly trudging along the north side of the Tower. Hayden should easily be able to outrun them and then double back to the Tower gates.

  He left the three downed sickos to bleed to death and went back for Kyle and Adele. Adele was chewing something. She looked keyed up, her hands tight on her heavy iron club.

  Ed waited for Will and Macca to reload and fire two more bolts into the mob at the doorway and then he was off. He couldn’t wait for them to reload again. Crossbows were powerful and accurate, but had a low rate of fire. He wanted to move quickly and get it over with. It was always possible that there were more sickos down in the subway. The longer the kids stayed outside the castle walls, the more dangerous it became.

  Kyle and Adele followed him over the road, hoping to move in before the rest of the sickos got a handle on what was happening. As they sprinted towards the buildings, Ed counted heads. There were seven of them still there that he could see. Could be more. It was cramped in the porch and the sickos were battering at the glass doors, crowding each other out. One had a crossbow bolt in his leg, but was ignoring it.

  Seven.

  Not too hard to deal with.

  The girl was still at the window. Watching but staying silent. Ed wondered why she hadn’t simply found another way out. There must be more than one door to the place after all. He knew all too well, though, that when you’re scared, you don’t always think straight.

  The sickos finally heard them coming. Or more likely smelt them. They turned. Started to come down the steps from the porch.

  Ed felt a cold fist close round his heart.

  ‘Do it quickly,’ he said.

  Kyle raised his battleaxe and swung it, taking the lead sicko’s head clean off his shoulders. At the same time Ed plunged his sword into the second sicko’s guts. A third sicko went for Adele. One side of his face had been caved in, giving him a lopsided, cross-eyed look. Adele swung her club and caved the other side of his face in.

  ‘Stay in the road,’ Ed commanded. ‘There’s no room to fight in the doorway. Let them come to us.’

  And the stupid bastards did. As usual, their hunger and insane drive for food forced them to attack even when they were outgunned. None of them were armed, relying instead on strength in numbers, hands, teeth and fingernails. They’d been whittled down enough for Ed to feel confident, though. Only four were left standing and one of them was already wounded. He had cut his wrist on something and his left hand was hanging half off, squirting blood down his trousers.

  Ed, Kyle and Adele stood their ground, placing themselves well apart so that there was no risk of them striking each other with their weapons. Ed had found a Cromwellian military sword in the White Tower, nicknamed a mortuary sword. It was heavy and straight and brutal, not a fencing sword, not something to show off elegant swordplay with. It was designed to shatter and break bones.

  And break bones he did, hacking at two more sickos as they came down the steps. Kyle and Adele easily dealt with the last couple and in less than a minute all the sickos were dead or dying. Macca and Will trotted over to join them and retrieve their precious crossbow
bolts.

  ‘Keep watch out here,’ Ed told them. ‘And keep vocal. We don’t want to get trapped in there like the girl. Any sign of danger, you let us know.’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ said Macca. ‘We’ll be here.’

  Ed called up to the girl, who was leaning out of the window.

  ‘Stay there!’ he shouted. ‘We’re coming up.’

  9

  Ed bounded up the steps and soon discovered how the father had cut his hand. The glass in the doors was broken in several places and one jagged piece was painted with blood. Ed used his sword hilt to knock it out and then reached his hand in through the gap to open the door. Inside there was an entrance hall with a noticeboard on one side listing all the businesses that had once been based there. There was a small reception desk at the back with a blank TV above it, and behind it the lifts and a stairway.

  So far there were no signs of life.

  ‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’ Kyle asked.

  ‘Depends what you’re thinking,’ Ed replied. ‘If you’re thinking of tits, like you usually do, then no.’

  ‘I’m thinking there might be more of them in here. Otherwise why didn’t the girl try to get out another way?’

  ‘Nothing’s ever simple, is it?’

  ‘Nope.’

  Ed sighed. It had been easy outside. They’d been able to clearly see the threat and prepare for it. In here it would be a different matter. It was dark and cramped and unknown. He put his finger to his lips and they listened.

  All quiet.

  Ed went over to the stairs and looked up.

  ‘Nothing. Stay close, yeah? We’ll go slow and steady. Who’s got a torch?’

  Blank faces from the other two.

  Ed grunted with dismay. ‘I should have brought one, I suppose,’ he said. ‘Left in too much of a hurry. Don’t you have one, Kyle? I thought you were on early watch.’

  ‘Flat batteries, mate. We need to find some more of them wind-up beauties. You know Jordan don’t like us to use up batteries.’

  ‘We’ll bring it up in the next war council,’ said Ed. ‘Make it a priority to find batteries and more friction torches.’

  ‘It shouldn’t be too dark,’ said Adele. ‘There’s lots of windows.’

  ‘Yeah, but be careful.’

  ‘Will you get off telling us to be careful?’ said Kyle. ‘It’s not like we don’t know.’

  ‘Are you ever careful, Kyle?’

  Kyle grinned his big idiot’s grin.

  ‘Course not,’ he said. ‘Now let’s go. Brain-biter is hungry.’

  ‘Brain-biter?’ Ed tutted. ‘Don’t tell me. You’ve given your axe a name, haven’t you?’

  ‘Yeah. I got it from a book. Ain’t your sword got a name?’

  ‘It’s called Terry.’ Ed laughed and started up the stairs, he and Kyle side by side, Adele watching their backs. There was very little light in the stairwell, which wound up around the lift shaft in the centre of the building. They had to feel their way, creeping slowly from step to step.

  ‘So did you give a name to that executioner’s axe you were so keen to use the other day?’ Ed asked Kyle quietly.

  ‘Nah. It was just a replica. Don’t even know if it would of worked.’

  ‘You were still going to use it, though.’

  ‘Dunno. Jordan told me what to do before the trial. I think he knew that killing Brendan was a no-no.’

  ‘So why go through with it?’

  ‘Jordan wanted to look harder than hard. He was hoping all along that someone would come up with another plan. Talk him out of it. All he ever wanted was to kick Brendan out. Send him into exile.’

  ‘So why didn’t he just say that in the first place and save us all that bloody drama?’

  ‘I reckon cos he thought exile was pretty harsh, thought everyone might complain. This way it looks like he did Bren a favour, not crapping on him from too great a height. Makes Jordan look hard but fair.’

  ‘And what if I hadn’t said anything?’ Ed asked. ‘Would you have gone through with it and cut his head off?’

  ‘Shhh … ’

  They had reached the first floor where a corridor with offices off to either side ran from the front of the building to the back. It was full of dark moving shapes.

  Hard to tell in the low light levels, but there were maybe as many as ten sickos here. Ed had a strong urge to turn tail. Was it worth risking any of their lives for this unknown girl?

  They backed down the stairs and round a corner.

  ‘Are you up for this?’ he whispered.

  ‘We’ve come this far,’ said Kyle.

  ‘We could come back for her.’

  ‘Are you ducking out, Captain? Didn’t you say she was one of us?’

  ‘I don’t want to force you two to do anything you don’t want.’

  ‘We’d follow you into the mouth of hell, Skipper.’ Kyle put on a bad American accent.

  ‘Shut up, Kyle. I’m serious.’

  ‘I told you, Brain-biter is hungry. Lead on.’

  ‘Let’s do it,’ said Adele. ‘I can’t go back to the Tower knowing I’d left that girl here. She must be terrified.’

  ‘All right. Let’s do it then.’ Ed led them back up to the top of the stairs and out into the corridor.

  ‘Which door are you behind?’ he shouted. There was no answer.

  ‘She can’t hear you,’ said Kyle. ‘How could she?’

  ‘Must be one of the offices at the front,’ said Adele.

  ‘But which side?’ said Kyle. ‘Left or right?’

  For an answer the girl threw herself at the glass door to an office with the words MCKAY CONSULTANCY on it. She banged it with her fists, her mouth open in a silent scream.

  ‘Go for it,’ Ed shouted. The sickos were aware of their presence now. They advanced from both directions. ‘Barge through them!’

  As Ed started to run, someone made a grab for his legs. Someone lying in the darkness of a doorway. Ed got a glimpse of long tangled hair. A hand took hold of the loose material of his trousers and he instinctively swiped down, cutting it off. Another slash and the body fell still.

  Then a mother got hold of him from behind. He whirled round and stabbed her with the point of his sword.

  ‘Get off me!’

  ‘Come on, Ed!’ Kyle and Adele had got ahead of him and were by the office door already. Ed put his head down and powered down the corridor, knocking two more sickos aside. He jumped over a third who’d been cut down by Kyle and then he was at the door. The girl was still on the other side, pressed up against the glass. She looked about fourteen and was dressed all in green.

  Kyle held off the sickos, using the shaft of his axe as a bludgeon in these cramped conditions.

  ‘Open the door,’ Ed yelled at the girl and she did as she was told. The three of them piled in, almost falling over each other, and Ed pushed the door shut and bolted it at the top just as a knot of sickos caught up. Now it was their turn to squash against the glass. This lot were mostly young, a couple of them not much older than Ed and Kyle.

  ‘Ugly douche bags,’ said Kyle and he spat at them, leaving a greasy gob to slide down the glass.

  ‘That’s disgusting,’ said Adele.

  ‘Oh, right, and that lot aren’t?’

  ‘I didn’t say that. It’s bad enough having to put up with them slobbering all over everything without you adding to it.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, mother.’ Laughing, Kyle wiped the gob off with his sleeve to a horrified ‘eurgh’ from Adele. He then waved his damp sleeve in her face and she backed away, swearing at him.

  In their relief at getting safely in off the corridor they’d all but forgotten about the girl they’d come to rescue. Ed tore his eyes away from the angry sickos at the door and turned to her.

  ‘Are you alone?’ he asked. ‘Is it just you?’

  The girl was frozen, her lips pressed tightly together, too scared to speak by the look of it. Ed knew she wasn’t dumb – they’d all h
eard her shouting before.

  ‘Are there any others?’

  The girl burst into tears and Ed put an arm round her. She instantly stiffened, shrinking from his touch, and he let her go. She had short dark hair cut in an untidy bob. She was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, both dark green, like she’d dyed them herself, and not too dirty, so she hadn’t been sleeping rough. There was a wound on her forehead. It looked like it might be an old one, though. It was scabby and slightly infected.

  Ed ignored the girl for a moment to take in their surroundings. They were in another reception area, filled with dusty office equipment.

  ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Don’t talk now; we’re going to get you back to the Tower, OK? But you’ve got to do exactly as we tell you. Can you do that?’

  The girl nodded. She had a round face and slightly too many teeth for her mouth. She picked something up.

  ‘That all you got?’

  Again she nodded.

  ‘You’re not going to do much damage with that. What is it? A walking stick?’

  Another nod.

  ‘All right. Listen. We stick close together till we’re out of the building, then we run. You can run, yeah? Good. We should be fine. Kyle, check outside.’

  Kyle went into the office that overlooked the street and leant out of the open window. They could hear him calling down to Macca and Will outside. He waited a moment, listening, and then returned to the reception area.

  ‘All quiet outside. It’s just this lot we have to worry about. Once we get past these goons we should be fine. How many d’you reckon, Adele?’

  Adele had been watching the door through all this. The sickos were still crowding round it, licking the glass, pressing their pimply, broken faces against it.

  ‘I’ve counted nine,’ she said. ‘There could be more.’

  Ed took hold of the green girl’s arms to get her attention.

  ‘Is there definitely no other way out of the office than through this door?’

  This time the girl shook her head.

  Ed swore under his breath. This girl was making a lot of trouble for them. He hoped she was worth it.