The Baby and Fly Pie

by Melvin Burgess

  I licked my lips, like Sham. I glanced back down the path. They could come any time. They could come now.

  ‘Then it’s not for nothing, if I tell them. Do you see? Here …’ She got up and put her bag over my neck. ‘You get away, get to a town. Brush your hair, get all that straw and stuff out. Wash your face. You won’t look half bad. You’ll get away with it. Plenty of kids like you about.’

  She took her hairbrush out of the bag and brushed at my hair. ‘Like that.’ She nodded and put the brush back. ‘Like I did,’ she insisted.

  I looked behind me. Everything was happening faster and faster. I’d promised myself I’d look out for her but when it came to it, all I wanted to do was save my skin.

  Behind us were more sirens. Jane pulled a face. ‘They’ve got their precious baby back, haven’t they, what more do they want?’ she sniffed. ‘They don’t need to bother with us. Pair of rubbish kids, we are …’ She looked at me and pulled a face. ‘You better get going. Don’t worry about me. They’ll lock me up. Plenty to eat and drink and all the rest and I’ll talk and tell them what – you know me. They ought to know, didn’t they? You run for it.’

  We hugged. Jane said, ‘We just wanted a life, didn’t we, Davey?’ Then I left her. She was sitting back down on that heap of stones with her hands in her lap when I ran off, looking back the way they’d come.

  I ran up the track. Later I heard a car coming and I got off it just in time. I hid and saw it. It was unmarked. There were men in it, but no dogs. They had guns, though. They hadn’t had time to get dogs but there were always guns.

  I carried on up a little footpath. A couple of times I heard shouting but I left it behind. I carried on for ages, out of the woods and through scrubland, running all the time until I thought my heart would burst. It seemed to be uphill all the way but at last I pushed past some spiky green bushes and the hill fell away before me and there it was – a town. Houses spreading out for miles, tower blocks in the distance. I knew I’d done it then, I’d got away, because every town is full of kids and we all look the same. No one was going to pick me out. No one would even notice one more lousy kid.

  I waited just a minute to get my breath back and then I ran down, through the spiky bushes and the long grey grass. I’d gone maybe ten steps when I heard a gunshot. One shot, way off behind me. That’s how they do it, through the temple or the back of your head. That’s all they needed to do to shut her up forever. I almost fell but only for a second. I didn’t even think about it. I ran fast downhill and I felt like I was flying.