Stanton frowned. What did she just say? He turned his head to face her. She smiled in a way that squeezed his heart again. She kissed him again, breathing into him. Stanton sank closer to sleep.
“Tell me,” she said, her voice soft and seductive.
Stanton closed his eyes. He let sleep claim him; as he did he heard a man talking, a voice he recognised.
His own.
***
Dawn.
Kramer shivered in the chill air. She had curled into a ball, just like she used to when she was a child, trying to conserve some warmth. It didn’t feel like she’d succeeded. Geordie hadn’t come any closer. Kramer thought he had just drifted into unconsciousness rather than sleep. At least that meant he hadn’t felt the cold night air sink into his bones.
With a soft groan of pain, Kramer uncurled and sat up. Every part of her ached. Her eyes felt like sandpaper, and her mouth and throat felt locked in a vice. She reached out and gave Geordie a shake. He woke and stared at her. He must have been dreaming because it took several seconds for his body to relax. He gave her a smile that cracked his lips and then he stood. Kramer watched him as he began to circle her, his steps widening the arc. Every so often he paused and reached down, his fingers brushing the surface of the ground. After ten minutes he returned and held out his hand. Kramer took two small pebbles from him. She stared at them and then at Geordie. He showed her two similar stones and popped them into his mouth.
“Keep them under your tongue,” he said. Or that’s what Kramer thought he said. What came out sounded more like ‘ke’em und’ton’ in a hoarse, broken voice.
Kramer did as instructed. It took a few seconds before her salivary glands reacted and what felt like a flood of moisture filled her mouth. In truth, it was barely anything, but just to feel the dryness vanish for a moment lifted her spirits. She stood next to Geordie. Thirst, hunger and pain almost pushed her back to the ground. One day in this world and it had come close to beating her. Geordie nudged her. She looked at him, “What?” and her voice sounded worse than his.
“Fo’ me.”
He started walking. Kramer watched him until he got ten yards away and then she forced her limbs into motion. She placed one foot before the other. Was there a song with that line in it? That took up some time, trying to remember song lyrics. Yard after yard. Struggling up rises in the ground. Stumbling down slopes. The sun rose higher, and the air warmed around them. Kramer fixed her eyes on Geordie’s footprints. She found she could close her eyes against the sun’s glare for about ten paces before she needed to check her direction. It became a challenge. Ten, then eleven, try for twelve. She got to fifteen once but had drifted off line so couldn’t count that one as a record.
She had her eyes closed when she walked into Geordie. He’d stopped, and they almost fell as Kramer clattered into him. She muttered, “Sorry.”
Geordie just nodded ahead. Kramer looked. A man stood about twenty yards in front of them. He wore a blue wool tunic and grey linen trousers that were fastened at the waist by a leather belt. A short sword hung from the belt. His bearded face stared at them from under an iron helmet. He didn’t speak. As Kramer watched, he turned and began to walk away from them.
“Where did he come from?” Kramer managed to get her throat to work.
“I don’t care,” Geordie’s voice barely rose above a whisper. “I’m more interested in where he’s going.”
The man paused, looking back. It seemed like an invitation, or maybe an instruction, for them to follow. Geordie began to walk this time, hope made his strides lengthen, and Kramer found she had to dig into the very depths of her soul to keep up with him. She wanted to scream at them to slow down, but that would be a show of weakness. So she gritted her teeth, and with every step she swore she would get out of this world and when she did whatever had put her here was going down. Hard.
Miles seemed to drift by in tiny clouds of dust that burst up with each footfall. The sun rose and fell. Kramer’s shadow lengthened. She wanted to lie down.
You want to die. The same voice, right beside her.
“No, I want to live.”
The woman laughed and Kramer could feel the woman’s breath as she leant in close. I want you to die.
Kramer stopped and turned. She saw nothing but empty ground. Nowhere for the voice to come from. Am I imagining it? She forced herself around and saw Geordie had stopped walking. With the last of her energy, she went to him. She couldn’t see the man they’d been following.
“Where is he?”
Geordie shook his head. “He’s gone. I blinked, and he’d vanished.”
Kramer looked at the footprints they’d been following. They stopped as if the man had been plucked into the air.
Thin air.
Geordie moved passed her, tracking the footprints until they stopped. Again, Kramer found some energy to join him. They stared at the final impression. Kramer’s thoughts had been dulled by heat and dehydration. Her gaze rose as if the man still walked ahead of them. She waited for him to reappear. Her feet moved, a step and then another. Moving towards the distant horizon as if called by some unheard voice.
The ground changed to asphalt. The empty world filled with the green of grass, the yellow of autumn leaves and the grey of stone built cottages. Kramer fell to her knees. A group of men and women stared at her like they’d seen a ghost. As one they moved, running towards her. Geordie appeared at her side. The people stopped short of them.
“Who are you?”
Stupid question, Kramer thought.
“We’re from the security team,” Geordie said. “Can we have some water?”
They didn’t seem to know what to do until a couple of squaddies ran up. They took one look at Kramer and Geordie and one hurried back for water while the other got on his radio and called up a medic. Kramer wanted to hug the guy. She got to her feet and went towards him.
The village disappeared as she returned to the empty world.
Kramer screamed and whirled around, almost falling. Nothing but earth and dust and heat as far as the eye could see. She began to pant, fear taking control of her heart.
Calm down.
Kramer took a couple of tentative steps back and there was Geordie, waiting for her. She almost fell into his arms as he grabbed her.
“Same place?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said as she stepped back. “Had me scared for a moment.”
They saw the soldier who’d gone for water come running back. He carried two bottles of water. They didn’t look very big. One of the scientists stopped him coming into the Anomaly.
“What now?” the soldier asked.
Geordie said, “Throw the bottles.”
Geordie caught the first one and gave it to Kramer. She broke the seal with shaking hands. The chilled liquid hit her mouth and throat like a waterfall. She almost gagged, unable to take enough in to satisfy the craving that burned through every cell in her body. She stopped to take a breath. Scientists and soldiers stared at her. She smiled and looked at the bottle. Not much left. She debated drinking the rest but decided on spilling it over her face. The wounds stung as the water ran over them. Kramer wiped away muck and sand.
“Have you got any grub on you?” Geordie asked.
The soldier nodded and dug a couple of energy bars from a pocket. Kramer’s stomach cramped in anticipation as they spun towards her. She caught one and dropped the other. By the time Geordie retrieved it Kramer had the whole of the bar in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed and said, “We need more of both.”
“Sure,” the squaddie grinned at her. “I’ll go raid the stores.”
“It looks like we might be here a while,” Geordie said. “See if you can get a couple of one-man tents and sleeping bags. Have a think about the kind of stuff you’d need and grab it. Anyone argues, tell them to come and spend a day wandering around this world.”
A vehicle pulled up at the cordon, and a medic came down towards them. The scientists stopped him.<
br />
“It might be too dangerous,” one of the eggheads said.
“Easiest thing is to walk in and walk out. If that works then you can come back in and work on us,” Kramer said.
The medic tried it. He stared around at the desert landscape with his mouth open. Kramer tried not to laugh. Water and food lifted the spirits. The young man walked a few steps away. He shook his head.
“How’s that happening?”
“If we knew that then we could all go home,” Kramer said.
The medic came back into the Anomaly. Geordie told him to see to Kramer first. The medic told her to sit on the ground. He knelt next to her.
“Will the cuts heal properly?” Kramer asked.
“I don’t know. A couple are only superficial but the one on you left cheekbone is deeper. I’m surprised you didn’t get a fracture.”
“Just lucky,” Kramer said and flinched as he squirted anti-biotic spray onto the wound.
“Well you both need to be checked over in a hospital,” the medic said. “But I guess that’s out, isn’t it? Like you’re trapped here?”
“Yeah, we are,” Kramer said, feeling her spirits drop again.
They could see their world. They could touch it and feel it but they couldn’t get back to it.
So near and yet so far.
Chapter Six
The twins saw the lady waiting for them again. They quickened their steps, eager to see her. The girls had talked late into the night, whispering to each other across the bedroom they shared. Mummy and Daddy slept on, unaware of the plans their daughters made as the hours passed. Now and again, one of the girls would tiptoe out onto the landing just to make sure they hadn’t disturbed the adults.
“I looked up immortal,” Elizabeth said. “It means living forever.”
“That’s impossible.” Victoria lay in bed with the pillows propping her up against the headboard.
“If we see her again we can ask.”
“What about the new girl? How do we hurt her?”
“I think we need to do something special,” Lizzie said. “Tripping her up and things like that are for children. We need to make sure we hurt her properly.”
“How?”
“Make friends with her. Pretend we’re sorry about the first couple of days. Invite her for tea. Or better yet, ask if we can go to her house. She might have a pet we can steal.”
“Where does she live?” Vicky asked.
“I don’t know. It must be in the village somewhere. We’ll have to get up early and try to spot where she comes from.”
“Okay. And what about the lady?”
Lizzie thought for a moment. “If you wake up and she’s here then wake me up. I’ll do the same for you. If we see her in the morning on the way to school, we ask her what she meant.”
“Will she take us away from here? She said she wanted to be our mother.”
“I hope so. This village is boring. Nothing ever happens here.”
“I hate it,” Vicky said.
“So do I.”
“But wouldn’t it be kidnapping if she took us?”
They both froze as a floorboard creaked. Lizzie turned off the night-light, and they lay in silence, straining to hear if one of their parents was heading towards their bedroom. Lizzie relaxed as the seconds dragged into a minute. “Vicky?” she whispered.
“What?”
“I’m going to turn the light back on.”
Vicky squealed as the light revealed the woman sitting calmly as can be at their desk. She had her hands folded in her lap and a smile on her face like she knew she’d played a trick on them.
“How did you get in here?” Lizzie asked.
“That’s a secret,” the lady said.
“Do you use magic?” Vicky asked as she kicked back the covers on her bed and sat up.
“It depends on what you mean by magic.” The lady smiled at them. “But until I know you better I can’t teach you any of my secrets.”
“When will that be?” Lizzie asked.
“Quite soon, I think. But first I want to show you something.”
She stood and moved over to sit on Vicky’s bed. One hand patted the mattress in an invitation for Lizzie to sit one side of her and Vicky the other. When they were in place, she took hold of one hand from each girl. “Let me say this. What you will see is real, but you must never, ever, tell anyone about it. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Lizzie said. Vicky just nodded.
“Close your eyes.”
Lizzie did so without question. Vicky watched her sister for a moment before she glanced up. The lady gave her a reassuring smile and a little squeeze of the hand before she whispered. “Go on.”
A soft breeze drifted through the branches of an oak tree. Dappled sunlight made the woodland floor dance with a patchwork of light and shade. Birds sang in the treetops, and a woodpecker rattled away at a tree trunk somewhere in the distance. Lizzie and Vicky walked hand-in-hand with the lady. Lizzie on her right, Vicky on her left. Warm air touched their skin. The lady hummed a tune, and ahead of them, they saw a dying man.
As they walked closer, the man became aware of their presence. He raised his head, and the twins gasped in unison. Blood covered the man’s face, glistening in the sun. It ran down from wounds in his scalp, a sticky river that reached his chest before it dried in a dark crust. Lizzie saw it first. Saplings impaled the man, their roots holding fast in the woodland floor as thin trunks wound up through the flesh of his thighs, penetrated the stomach and buttocks before branches split out through his ribcage and back.
“Mistress?” the man’s eyes searched for his visitor.
“He’s blind,” Vicky said.
At the sound of her voice, the man said, “Mistress?”
“I am here,” the lady said.
“I need water,” the man said and slumped forward, his flesh stretching as the saplings held firm.
“It will rain soon,” the lady said. “That will give you the water you need.”
She turned to the girls. “He has been here a long time. His strength is going, and I will need to replace him soon.”
“He’s going to die?” Lizzie asked, her attention focussed on the man.
“He is dying. He has been dying for hundreds of years, but the tree that grows through him both sustains and kills him. I will need a new sacrifice soon.”
“Why?”
“Because death keeps me alive. And this kind of death makes my heart beat faster. Do you understand?”
“I think so,” Lizzie said. “We like killing things, and that makes our hearts beat faster.”
The lady stroked Lizzie’s hair. With her other hand she did the same to Vicky and said, “You are so much like me. I’m so pleased I found you.”
“We want you to be our Mummy,” Lizzie said.
“And I will be very soon.”
“What’s your name?” Vicky asked.
“Some people call me Morrigan. It’s an ancient name but I like to use others to stay hidden. You can call me Moira for now.”
“Moira,” the girls said in unison.
The lady’s attention returned to her sacrifice. “I am in the process of choosing my next victim. It needs to be someone who will fight the tree and then welcome it.”
“What will happen to this man?” Lizzie asked, pointing at the bloodstained figure.
Moira beckoned, and they followed her across the clearing to the oak tree. She led them a quarter way around the thick bole and pointed to the gnarled bark. “This.”
In the formation of the tree, they saw the impression of a man. His eyes formed knot holes. The remains of his arms were ridges in the bark that reached up towards the lowest branches. His legs were thick roots that split out from the trunk before plunging beneath the soil. His mouth, open in a never-ending silent scream, was a horizontal split that seeped an amber sap.
Vicky looked at all the trees that surrounded them. She didn’t know for sure but asked anyway. “How ma
ny?”
“As many as you can count,” Moira said. “A tree for every century. A life for every tree.”
“Can we help you choose?” Lizzie asked.
“Not this time. When you are older you can.” Moira smiled. “Now I need to get you home. Remember, don’t tell anyone about this.”
“We won’t, will we Vicky?”
“No. It’s our secret.”
***
Stanton tried to ignore the ache in his back as he signed off another purchase order. He passed the paperwork back to the corporal who waited on the other side of his desk. “Is that all?” he asked.
“Yes, sir.” The corporal retreated from his office, and as the door closed Stanton slumped back in his chair. He groaned as his weight pressed the still raw scratches on his back into the seat.
A half-empty glass of water sat on the desktop. Stanton reached for it. The cool liquid revived him a little. Not enough, to be truthful. He closed his eyes and let all the aching muscles in his body relax. Almost midday. He could soon take a lunch break that would consist of driving his car to a quiet spot just outside the quarantined village and grabbing a power nap.
Somehow, and Stanton couldn’t quite figure out how, he had driven home last night. The journey came back to him as a fragmented series of memories. The strange mist that enveloped the land, narrow lanes and the near-silent village. Moira had drained him of almost everything he could give. Her appetite frightened him now. Voracious sprang to mind. The thought of meeting her again both thrilled and appalled him. Sitting forward, he rested his elbows on the desk and put his head in his hands. Just a few more hours and he could crawl back into bed, the one he’d reached at five in the morning and left ninety minutes later.
He heard his personal mobile buzz. He opened the drawer that held the handset and lifted it out. The name displayed in big, backlit letters – Moira. Stanton blinked. He couldn’t recall saving her to his contacts.
“Hello?” his voice sounded as torn as his back.
“Alec, how are you?” Moira’s sultry voice sent a shiver down his spine. Just hearing her speak made his mouth water.
“Shattered,” he said, with an honesty that astounded him.
The Anomaly (Scarrett & Kramer Book 2) Page 12
