Right, left, right, left, left, left—no matter how zigzagged her run, the thunder of steps continued behind her. Although she couldn’t see them, the gang remained on her trail, many of them laughing at her futile attempt at escape.
The shadows weren’t dark enough to hide the figures on the first floors of many of the buildings. They watched over Olga like sentries. Just before she took the next right, one of them jumped down and blocked her path. She continued straight. The same happened at the next left.
Several more jumped down and blocked her way, but none of them wanted to fight. A second later, Olga burst into an open space with a dead end. Surrounded by spectators, she spun on the spot while fighting for breath. The woodwork district’s own arena and she was the diseased. At least twenty boys and girls followed her in, fanning out and cackling like they had all along.
One of the boys stepped forward while shaking his head. She still couldn’t see his face. “Well, well, looks like you want to put on a show. It’s a good job you’ve come here. There’s a bit more space for us to queue up. More places for the others to watch from.”
Olga’s stomach tightened, and the skin at the base of her neck writhed with a caterpillar crawl. Sweat ran into her eyes as the silhouettes of the gang spread out like a dark mist. She swallowed back her instinct to beg. They were animals. They had less humanity than the diseased. They didn’t deserve her pleas. It would probably spur them on.
“I’m the guv’nor,” the lead boy said. “That means I go first.”
Still several feet between them, she couldn’t let them any closer. And they didn’t deserve the same respect she’d give to a human. Lance’s knife in her sweating grip, Olga screamed and threw it at the lead boy. It spun once before the deep blade stuck in his face.
The boy fell and Olga charged, getting to him as he hit the ground. She pulled the knife from his face and the one from his hand. Armed with both blades, she swung at the next closest person, catching her arm. The girl yelled and dropped her weapon.
While letting out a shrill cry to match any she’d heard from the diseased, Olga’s pulse hammered as she attacked with everything she had. These kids weren’t used to people fighting back. It drove panic through them.
The gang members scattered, opening up a path for her. Covered in the warm blood of her enemies, Olga made it back to the alley she’d entered through and took off again.
Although she’d left the gang in disarray, it didn’t take long for one of them to deliver an authoritative, “Get her.”
Her legs weak, Olga hated herself for crying as she willed her tired body forwards. On the edge of her balance, she could crash down at any moment. But the gang were farther back this time and chased her with less enthusiasm. Who would be brave enough to attack her again? A blade in each hand, they knew what would happen if they got too close.
Several turns later, the pack still on her tail, Olga burst out into the main street running through woodwork. Thank god! What appeared to be a family of a mum, dad, and three children stared at her. “Please help me.”
Snot and tears ran down her face, the blood of her victims tightening her skin where it had already started to dry. She couldn’t blame the mum and dad for pulling their kids away. “Please, a gang of boys are going to attack me. Please help.”
Not just the family, but the other people on the street vanished. They already knew about the gangs. They were as scared as her. What must have been fifteen gang members ran out onto the main road. Olga shook her head, taking off again.
She might have had enough rage and front to defeat the gang, but as she stretched her mouth wide to drag in more air, and her muscles burned with fatigue, she wouldn’t bet on it. She darted left, returning to the tight and dark alleys. While she still had a lead, she had to try to lose them. They’d outrun her on the main road.
Taking every turn, Olga ran left, right, right, left, left, left. Around the next bend, she found a house with its door open. An old woman beckoned her in. If she didn’t trust the woman, they’d catch her. With no idea how to get out of woodwork, she needed sanctuary.
Olga darted into the house, the woman closing the door behind her. Gasping for breath, she tried to speak, but the woman placed a finger over her lips.
Footsteps thundered past the house. The gang had increased in number. She had a small army after her now.
A good five minutes after the last boy ran past, the old woman finally spoke. “You need to get out of here. This is a bad district. It’s one of Edin’s best-kept secrets, but this place is run by the gangs. They’ve been getting worse.”
Her breathing had levelled out. Olga shrugged. “But how do I get away? This place is a maze.”
The old woman pressed her ear against her front door before she opened it and stepped into the street. When she returned, she pointed to her left. “You get out of here and turn right. If you follow this alley for the next few minutes, you should come to a gap in the wall that’ll lead you out to the labs.”
“Thank god.” A gulp against the dry pinch in her throat, Olga pressed her hands together as if in prayer. “Thank you.”
The woman might have been old and frail, her face a mess of wrinkles, but she had the brightest blue eyes. “It’s my pleasure.” The azure glow faded. “I only wish someone could have rescued me when I was your age.”
Before Olga could reply, the old woman hissed, “Now go. Get out of here while you still can.”
Exactly as the woman had called it, Olga ran for about two minutes and found the gap in the wall. But before she got to it, she froze. Deep voices came from around the corner. Four boys then appeared, blocking her exit.
They stopped talking when they saw her. Too tired to run anymore, Olga stepped forward, her knives away from her sides and ready to swing. “I will cut whoever gets in my way.”
The boys stepped back at her approach. Were she to guess, she’d put them at around fourteen. Not like the almost men and women she’d encountered when she’d first entered woodwork.
Too much time and she might lose her advantage. Olga charged at the boys. They ran.
Where the boys turned right, Olga burst through the hole in the wall and into the labs. She fell to her knees.
It took a few seconds for her to see the guard standing there. The short and squat man had a tight afro, dark skin, and biceps like boulders. He’d already drawn his baton. “Put the blades down.”
“The second I put these down, you’ll take me in.”
It took the man a few seconds to find his words, and when he did, they stood in stark contrast to his resolute posture. In a febrile tone, he said, “I had a daughter who got dragged into the woodwork district. I’ve not seen her since. The city’s officials won’t do anything about it because woodwork have them over a barrel.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Woodwork threaten the city with revolt if they don’t leave them alone. They have wood quotas, which they hit, but other than that, they don’t want Edin’s interference. So if you think I care about what you’ve done in there, you’re wrong. I want you to drop your weapons as proof that you mean me no harm.”
Trust didn’t get given freely in Edin. Especially when it relied on the whims of a guard, but what else could she do? The ching of her blades hit the ground and Olga shook her head. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’m tired of fighting.”
As the guard approached her, he softened his tone. “You’re safe now.”
Olga tensed at the guard’s proximity. When he wrapped her in a tight hug, she let the large man take her weight, her body releasing her grief in sobbing waves as if it had been the thing keeping her upright.
Chapter 12
For about ten minutes, William, Matilda, and Hugh sat resting on the floor in the boys’ room. Although it felt like much longer, the day getting warmer, the diseased—although more muted than before—still reminded them of their presence at the front door. Every time William thought to say something,
it died before he opened his mouth. What did he have to offer them? They were prisoners with no way out. Better than being turned, but they didn’t need that scant consolation.
“I think they’re forgetting about us,” Matilda said.
William shrugged. “They do sound less enthusiastic.”
Matilda winced. “But we need another plan. If Trent and the others are sensible, they’ve hidden so the diseased can’t see them.”
“So the diseased outside our hut have no reason to move?” William said.
Matilda nodded. “Right. So how long do we wait before we try something else?”
A murky glow hung in the room like fog from where William had drawn the curtain previously. “I’ve not said anything until now because it doesn’t seem like a very good plan …”
Since they’d had the conversation about what had happened to Sarge, Hugh hadn’t put more than a few sentences together, and his eyes remained distant as if he communed with his inner demons. Maybe he realised what he’d done. Maybe they were losing him. Either way, William looked to Matilda to help him decide.
“What are you talking about?” Matilda said.
“Sorry. The window.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve stayed in two dorms now, and the windows were sealed shut in both of them.”
“This is going somewhere, right?”
And he couldn’t blame her for her impatience. Not only did Matilda need to keep herself alive, but if she managed that, she then needed to find a way to get to Artan. “When Hugh and I came in here, I had to close the window. It only opens a crack, which is why I didn’t give it much thought, but I reckon we can force it wider and slip out the back.” He walked over to the window, moving more easily because of his washed foot.
The thin curtains would have revealed the silhouettes of diseased were there any on the other side, but William still shook as he pinched the light fabric and drew them. The morning light burned his eyes. Matilda and Hugh also squinted. No diseased out the back; at least, none he could see. “If we can sneak out this way, we have a clear run to the gates.”
“That’s a big if,” Matilda said.
“I’m trying my best.”
After a pause, Matilda came to William’s side and leaned against him. She rarely said the word sorry, but it would do. Hugh followed a second later. While looking out across the national service area, she chewed the inside of her mouth.
Dust motes danced in the sun’s strong rays, distracting William for a second before he looked back out. Minotaur’s dorm, the dining hall, and the gym stood between them and the gates separating the national service area and the rest of Edin. “We could use the buildings as cover to get from here to the gates. Unless anyone has any other ideas?”
Neither Hugh nor Matilda offered one.
“I think Matilda’s right about Trent and the others. If they have any sense, they’ll stay out of sight, so we could be waiting a long time if we don’t make a move.”
The sun bounced off Matilda’s pale skin when she moved closer to the window for a better look. William turned to Hugh. “You down for this?”
If the boy had an opinion, he hid it well. A shrug, he then nodded.
“Tilly?” William said.
Matilda looked at him with a watering gaze.
“Are you okay?”
She used the back of her hand to dab her eyes. “The sun’s bright.”
“And the plan?”
“It’s the best we’ve got.”
“Yeah, I think so too.” While holding his breath, William unlocked the window’s catch, the small bracket creaking. The hinges ran along the top of the frame, a gap opening at the bottom as he eased it wider. At about three inches, it stopped. Even with such a small gap, the stench of the diseased came into the room as if it had been propelled by their moans and wails. There were a lot of them out there. “This is as far as it opens.”
Matilda pushed against the window as if testing his assertion.
Before William could say anything else, she clenched her jaw and shoved it even harder. The flimsy wooden frame popped at the weak hinges.
William lunged to catch the window but missed.
The frame hit the ground outside, the large pane shattering on impact with a loud crash!
Chapter 13
William and Matilda dropped at the same time, crouching beneath the now missing window.
When Hugh didn’t move, William grabbed his belt and dragged him down with them.
All three of them sat with their backs to the wooden wall directly beneath the window, Matilda hugging her knees to her chest as she shook her head. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think it would give so easily.”
William laid a gentle hand on Matilda’s shoulder and pressed his finger to his lips. She knew what she’d done wrong; he didn’t need to make her feel worse. He reached down and held her shaking hand.
A pack of diseased appeared around the back of the dorm. It sounded like half a dozen at the most, their snorting and rattling breaths drawing closer.
At least William didn’t have to deal with Hugh. If his friend felt scared, he didn’t show it, looking back across the boys’ room with his now familiar distant glaze. Maybe their situation hadn’t even registered with him. After all, he hadn’t taken the initiative to hide.
The stench, as always, reached William before the diseased. Their presence curdled the air as their snuffling and snorting drew closer.
The curtain danced in the wind, flapping above them as if desperate to reveal their hiding spot. It goaded William, daring him to drag it down. Maybe they should make a break for it now. Only a small pack outside, they could fight them and run. Anything had to be better than waiting to be attacked.
A diseased then leaned in through the window above them, showing them the underside of its chin. It had a skeletal face as if it had turned months ago, its skin clinging to the bones like pallid leather. The glistening tracks of blood so common for the creatures had dried up on this one. How long did it have before it dropped dead? And where did the fresh supplies of people come from for there to always be so many of the freaks beyond the walls?
Matilda shook more than ever, so William squeezed her hand, his attention still on the beast above. The thing moved its head as if surveying the room, but it clearly couldn’t see. As long as they kept the noise down, they’d be fine.
With Hugh as a model of calm beside him, William closed his eyes and tried to channel his friend’s state. Deep and slow breaths, he filled his lungs with the creatures’ foul stench and slowly let it out, breathing into his stomach while fighting his need to heave. In and out. In and out.
It took a nudge from Matilda for William to open his eyes. She pointed up. The creature had gone. The sound of shuffling had moved on too.
A few minutes later, William’s heart went into overdrive as he got to his feet, drew his sword, and peered outside. Both ways were clear. “I’m not sure it’s going to get any better than this.” He stepped out through the low window frame, broken glass popping beneath his boots.
Once Hugh and Matilda had joined him outside, William pointed in the direction of the closest hut about one hundred feet away: Minotaur’s old dorm. Matilda nodded. Hugh didn’t. Hopefully, the boy would follow. William took off towards it at a crouched jog.
On his way to Minotaur’s hut, William’s view of the national service area opened up. It gave him a clear line of sight to Trent and his friends, all of them lying low so the diseased couldn’t see them.
Before he reached Minotaur’s cabin, William stopped and waited for Matilda and then Hugh to run past him into cover. The mob remained outside the hut they’d just left. Fifty, one hundred … however many, they loitered without a cause.
As William moved from their line of sight, Matilda pulled back from where she’d peered around the other side of the dorm at their route to the dining hall. She gave him a thumbs up, which he returned before she led them to the next hiding spot.
> William watched the rookies on the roof as he ran.
Matilda and Hugh nipped around the back of the dining hall unseen. Just before William joined them, he froze as if pinned to the spot. One of the kids had sat up and turned his way. They stared at one another. Neither moved.
William felt the attention of his friends on him, but he continued to watch the boy in Trent’s gang. His sword still in one of his hands, he pressed them together as if praying. Even from the distance between them, he could see the boy deciding his fate, adrenaline flooding his system.
But the boy didn’t shout or alert the others. Instead, he glanced around him and subtly returned the praying gesture, pressing his hands together in front of his chest. In that moment, they’d signed a deal. William would do what he could to make sure someone helped them. He bowed at the boy before joining his friends.
Chapter 14
The kid’s grace still with him, William moved along the back of the dining hall towards Hugh and Matilda at the other end. The gym stood between them and the gates leading deeper into Edin. They’d still have to find a way to scale them, but at least they were close. And now he’d cleaned his foot, he’d beat most diseased over a short distance.
Before William reached his two friends, Hugh burst from cover and sprinted towards the gym.
Matilda leaned around the dining hall to watch him go before she turned back. “What the hell’s he doing?”
“Huh?” William said. “How would I know? You didn’t just tell him to go?”
“No, I can’t see if it’s clear. He’s not right in the head, William.”
“He hasn’t been since Elizabeth died.”
“Then—”
But before she could say it, William took off after his friend. “Come on, we can’t leave him.”
Collapse: Book four of Beyond These Walls - A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller Page 6
