Hikers - The Collection (Complete Box Set of 5 Books)

by Lauren Algeo

  It might take a while for them to find us if we keep moving every day but eventually they’ll catch up to us and we have to be prepared for when they do. I’m planning to hit a hospital this morning to steal some drugs. It’s risky but we have no choice, it’s our best chance of getting hold of Warfarin or insulin, or something like that. I look beaten up so hopefully people won’t pay any attention to me. I’m not leaving there without something we can use.

  6th February 2012

  The Master has Ellen. Oh god, I want to throw up. I should never have left them at the motel to go to the hospital. This is my fault. That monster is doing god-knows-what to her because of me. I can’t believe he found us.

  This morning started off so well – I managed to get several boxes of Warfarin, some insulin, and several other medications from a drugs cupboard in the hospital without getting caught. I was feeling proud of myself, but then I went back to the motel room. I knew instantly that something was wrong when I saw the front door was ajar and my heart gave a warning jolt. When I got closer I could see that the lock was broken.

  The room beyond was empty and there had clearly been a struggle, with scattered newspapers and overturned chairs. My resolve broke and I yelled for Mitch and Ellen, fear blinding me. Mitch was there. He came flying out of the bathroom, soaking wet and hyperventilating.

  Three hikers had come to the room and taken Ellen. My panic for her safety was beyond words. I couldn’t breathe. At first I was furious with Mitch for not stopping them, for not protecting her, but when he managed to gasp out what had happened I just went numb.

  Two male hikers and one female had burst into the room while he was asleep. They’d seized Ellen and he’d tried to help her only one of the males had gotten inside his head. He’d never experienced it before and he had no way of blocking it out. The male made him walk to the bathroom while the other two hikers dragged Ellen from the room. He said she put up a fight, kicking and hitting them. Christ, I hope they haven’t punished her for that.

  The hiker made Mitch fill the bath with water then get in and put his head under. The kid nearly drowned in a shallow bath. He said he blacked out and when he came to, the hiker was gone and he was lying on the bathroom floor. He was a shivering mess and I couldn’t keep my anger directed at him. Not when I’d left them unarmed.

  We’re on our way to Tennessee now to get Ellen back. Those bastards left a calling card for us – a black business card on the windscreen of Ellen’s car with an address on. A town called Lexington in Tennessee, where that last hiker told us the Master is. Those three hikers are taking her to him.

  They’ve got an hour or so lead on us and we’re still a good six hour drive away from there. We’ve stopped briefly for fuel and Mitch is in the bathroom but I want to get moving as soon as possible. We have to catch up to them.

  I’m ashamed to admit (even to you), that it’s my fault they found us. The guilt has been eating me up inside for the last few hours. I stupidly booked the motel room in my real name. How could I have been so idiotic? I should have realised they knew who we were after Joseph’s bloody message and could find us that way. I caused this, now Ellen is… we have to get her back. I can’t lose another person, not so soon after Georgie. We have to save her.

  7th February 2012

  I’ve got a plan. It’s probably the most insane one I’ve ever had, and I don’t have a lot of time. I’m locked in a motel bathroom, making my final preparations away from Mitch’s prying eyes.

  I don’t want to alarm you but there’s a very real chance this could be the last time you hear from me. I’m trying not to think about it too much in case the reality of it sinks in and I freeze up. I’ve sworn to myself that I will save Ellen at any cost, even if I have to pay with my own life.

  I’m not being dramatic or acting rashly – I’m willing to die for her and there may not be any other way. I think I’ve fallen in love with her. My own life is something I’ve contemplated ending before and now if it’s to ensure that Ellen and Mitch are safe in the future, as well as hundreds of other innocent people, then it’s worth it. If Georgie could do it then I’m strong enough too. I have to be.

  There’s no real time for goodbyes. We’ve found the Master’s house and we have to act before he does anything to Ellen. Mitch wants to go in fighting with every drug we have but I can’t risk the two of them getting hurt in a stand off. I have a better plan: I’m going to kill myself with the Master trapped in my mind. That will ensure every other hiker connected to him dies too.

  I’ve convinced Mitch to go along with my plan even though I can’t tell him any real details about it. He can’t know anything in case the Master plucks it from his mind. I’m far more experienced in blocking my thoughts and I’m sure I can keep this hidden.

  Warfarin and insulin weren’t the only useful drugs I stole from the hospital yesterday. We’ve got a vial of potassium chloride and some quick online research tells me that I can use it on myself to cause a cardiac arrest. I’m going to tape a syringe of it to my chest now, under my jumper, and inject it when the Master is in my head. We can’t go in visibly armed so that’s why I’m smuggling it in.

  I also took calcium chloride and adrenaline from the drugs cupboard, which may be able to revive me afterwards. As long as I technically die for a short time, the hikers will die. There’s nothing to say I can’t be brought back to life after.

  Right, I need to tear out a page to leave clear instructions for Mitch. I’m going to slip it into his pocket before we get to the Master’s house. I can’t believe he’s trusting me when he was no clue what I have in mind. At least he has faith in me. I just hope Ellen does too and she can hold on long enough for us to rescue her.

  I have to hurry this up now as Mitch is waiting. I thought I’d be paralysed with fear but I feel quite calm. Peaceful even, is that odd? I’ve accepted my fate and I know what I have to do. I don’t need to look at the tattoo on my wrist to know it’s the right thing. This is why it was Georgie the first time; now it’s my turn.

  I need to write a quick note for Mitch and Ellen before we go. Just in case they can’t revive me, or the online speculation that this might work is bullshit, they have to know that it wasn’t their fault. I had to do this.

  I guess this is goodbye. The past few years have been the hardest of my life but it helped to have you there. Someone I could spill my thoughts to; one who would always listen. Even if you’re not real. Even if no one ever actually reads these words and this journal is lost along the way. It helped me. It gave me something to cling to when I was drowning. Thank you.

  10th February 2012

  Somehow I’m still alive. My body is broken yet I’m still here. The Master isn’t.

  I’m at Ellen’s house, tucked up in bed while she’s downstairs making us some dinner. Mitch has gone back to Philadelphia and his normal life. Physically, I feel as though I’ve been in a car crash but my mind is more alive than it’s been in years.

  My plan actually worked. When we pulled up at the Master’s house, the hikers took us straight to him. He had Ellen in his grasp and the first thing I saw when we entered his study was her black eyes. He’d been torturing her with visions of Lucy and it broke my heart. As soon as I saw the Master I knew I’d been wrong about him being one of the Grand’s sons. He was too old, older than the Grand even. He looked similar, with the same wispy tufts of white hair on a balding skull, weathered, wrinkled skin and cold, hard eyes. He was the Grand’s brother.

  He told us he hated his younger brother for being more powerful than him but he still wanted to avenge his death by killing us. He knew I was there when his brother was ‘murdered’ and I used that as my opportunity to act on my plan. I invited him into my head to show him my memories of exactly what happened that night, on the basis that he let Ellen’s mind go. He agreed.

  While he was engulfed in my visions of that bedroom in the Grand’s house, I injected myself with the potassium chloride syringe. It worked quicker than I expected
and I felt hot and clammy instantly. A fire of pain spread through my chest and I held onto the Master’s presence in my mind as hard as I could. I yelled at Mitch to check his pocket for my instructions then everything is blurry after that. I must have lost consciousness when I went into cardiac arrest. All I remember is the crippling chest pain and then welcome blackness. Just floating and nothing.

  I’ve heard from Ellen and Mitch how scary it was. They said the Master collapsed too and the three other hikers in the room started to attack them in panic. One of them hit Mitch over the head with the Master’s walking stick and he was knocked unconscious. They’d been coming for Ellen when the death sound started. The high-pitched buzzing from the Master’s body – just like the Grand.

  She said it was the most excruciating thing she’d ever felt but somehow through her pain she managed to carry out the instructions I left for Mitch. She injected me with the other syringes to combat the potassium chloride and performed CPR. Apparently it took a long time for me to respond and she thought I was dead. To be honest, when I opened my eyes I thought I was dead too. I could barely see through the blurriness and there was a crushing weight over my heart. But it worked – the extreme gamble that it was. I had died for long enough to kill the hikers.

  After a short recovery time, we left that awful house and dropped Mitch off at the nearest hospital to get stitches to his head then he was going to head home as soon as they’d patched him up. He called this morning to say he was back in Philly, with some heroic cover story of preventing a robbery to explain away his injury to his family and friends.

  I refused to go into the hospital with him. With all the drugs in my system there would have been a lot of unwelcome questions. I persuaded Ellen to drive us back to her house instead so I can recuperate. So far rest is helping and I haven’t needed a doctor.

  Ellen has said that she might take a trip to London when it’s time for me to go home, as she’s never been before. That one thought is what’s speeding up my recovery. All the hikers are dead and Ellen wants to visit my home with me. She wants this to be something real. I have someone who cares for me.

  Nearly losing her has made it clear to me how I feel. I can’t deny it any longer – I’m ready for a new relationship. It doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten about my past with Karen, and I shouldn’t feel guilty about it. It just means that I want a future, someone to share my life with, and I think I’ve found her.

  She’s been fussing over me for the last two days and we’ve shared a few more kisses. Nothing more while I’m this battered, I can barely stand without feeling lightheaded. Mainly we’ve talked about our lives, our pasts. We know we have to take things slowly but there’s a connection here. We both feel it.

  For the first time in a long time I’m excited about life, and the future. When I’m physically better we can spend some proper time together. Maybe even go on an actual date. Laugh together.

  I feel positive right now. I don’t even want to talk about hikers, or worry if they’re truly gone, or question why the Master started his own family over here. I don’t want to think about it today. Soon, maybe… I’ll go over it all in my head and finally close that door, once and for all.

  I can hear Ellen coming back up the stairs with dinner so I better put this away. Perhaps one day I’ll let her read the whole journal so she truly knows everything I went through. Consider this my last entry now. With all the hikers gone, there’s no reason for me to keep writing in here. I don’t need to leave a legacy. I’m going to take this home, bury it in a drawer and pray that I never have to take it out again. It’s finally all over.

  ­Hikers

  Georgie’s Story

  By Lauren Algeo

  Text copyright © 2015 Lauren Algeo

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from this book (other than for review purposes), prior written warning must be obtained by contacting the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  This work of fiction contains adult situations that may not be suitable for children under eighteen years of age. Recommended for mature audiences.

  Table of contents

  Chapter 1 – 15th May 2007

  Chapter 2 – 30th May 2007

  Chapter 3 – 17th June 2007

  Chapter 4 – 18th June 2007

  Chapter 5 – 19th June 2007

  Chapter 6 – 10th August 2007

  Chapter 7 – 17th August 2007

  Chapter 8 – 3rd September 2007

  Chapter 9 ­– 19th October 2007

  Chapter 10 – 8th December 2007

  Chapter 11 – 13th December 2007

  Chapter 12 – 19th January 2008

  Chapter 13 – 16th September 2011

  Chapter 1 – 15th May 2007

  ‘Georgina!’

  Her mum was calling from downstairs and Georgie could smell the burnt toast wafting up from the kitchen – breakfast was ready.

  ‘Coming!’ she yelled yet she stayed sitting on the chair in front of her dressing table.

  She ran a brush through her long, brown hair and solemnly regarded her reflection in the mirror on the table. Her brown eyes roamed over her chubby cheeks and down to her double chin. Georgie porkie.

  She stood up from the chair and straightened her school blazer. The ugly green checks on her skirt and oversized darker blazer made her look even wider. She contemplated tying her hair up to pull the skin on her face tighter but decided against it. Her long hair acted as a mask that could hide her when she wanted to be invisible.

  Georgie picked up her school bag from the bed and checked she had the right textbooks inside. She knew her mum wouldn’t bother to ask her. Lily Duncan didn’t pay much attention to her only daughter.

  Georgie’s gaze flicked to the framed photo on her bedside table. It had been taken about eight years ago and showed her and her parents in the garden. They were smiling and had their arms around each other while sunlight beamed down on them. Seeing it made Georgie’s heart ache, it was hard to remember the times like that when she’d been truly happy.

  Dad had still been alive and they’d been a normal, happy family. Her and dad and mum – the three bears. She would give anything to hear her dad’s affectionate voice again as he called her ‘baby bear’. For months after his death she had tried to pretend that it wasn’t real, that it had all been a mistake and someone else’s dad had died, not hers. She knew better now.

  Gary Duncan had been killed in a car accident when she was ten years old. A lorry had lost control on the motorway and crashed into him. Georgie remembered that day clearly. She’d known something was wrong the moment she came out of the school gates and saw her nan waiting there. She was her mum’s mother and Georgie hadn’t seen her for years – her mum had fallen out with her parents and barely spoke to them. It had to be serious if her nan had been sent to pick her up. When she asked where her mum was, Georgie saw her nan’s lips disappear into a thin line. Her heart was thudding painfully before the reply of ‘Hospital. It’s your dad.’

  Her nan wouldn’t give her any more details; she just drove Georgie there in tense silence. As soon as she saw her mum in the A and E car park, it became clear. Her mum was sitting on a bench and sobbing uncontrollably; Georgie heard her wails of anguish before she’d even gotten out of the car. She knew her dad was gone.

  She ran to her mum and tried to comfort her but tears were falling from her eyes, blinding her. Her mum wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly
, rocking back and forth. It was the last time her mother had held her.

  The next few days had passed in a blur. Her nan stayed with them long enough to help arrange the funeral, as her dad’s parents were no longer around, before she slipped back into oblivion. Georgie hadn’t seen her since.

  The funeral had been awful. Her mum had stared vacantly at the coffin in the crematorium while a vicar read some passages from the bible that Georgie didn’t understand. All she could smell were sickly sweet flowers, and her black dress was so tight she couldn’t breathe properly. It was a size too small but it was the only one in her wardrobe and she hadn’t wanted to trouble her mum for a new one. She’d just sat on the hard wooden pew and tried not to faint.

  Georgie missed her dad desperately and her mum was overcome with a paralysing grief. She sobbed all night, every night – Georgie could hear her through the bedroom wall – then she spent the days like a zombie. She would stare at the floor and didn’t respond when Georgie spoke to her. She barely ate or drank or slept. She just sat on the sofa and grieved.

  Georgie tried her best to take care of herself so as not to burden her mum. She made what she could for their meals and got herself off to school each day. She bottled up her heartbreak so she could be strong for mum. Georgie hoped it would get better over time. That her mum would acknowledge her and they could deal with their loss together. Instead, it only got worse.

  After weeks of begging, Georgie got her mum to the doctor. He prescribed her anti-depressants and sleeping pills but she wouldn’t take them, and Georgie wasn’t home all the time to force her to, so they didn’t have much effect. She went through the daily motions of eating and showering mechanically however nothing Georgie said could get through her mourning.