‘Yep,’ nodded Kai, automatically putting his arm protectively around her shoulder. ‘B…big time.’
‘Well, we’ll have to see what I can do to pay you back,’ she smiled, the brittle expression somewhat spoilt by the sharp intake of breath as her hand tentatively brushed against the lump forming on the back of her head.
‘P…plenty of time for that l…later,’ hushed Kai, reaching over to wrap his knuckles against the closed hatch.
With the sound of a bolt being drawn back the hatch suddenly swung open, revealing Tom perched in the opening, a wary look on his face.
‘She’s okay,’ said Kai, answering Tom’s unspoken question as the older man’s gaze flitted across Fran’s body; inevitably looking for any signs that she had been bitten. ‘A b…bump on the back of her head, and p…probably some bad bruising… but she’s okay.’
‘Oh, thank God,’ said Mike and Sam almost in unison.
‘But I did black out for a bit,’ added Fran, gingerly reaching for the open hatchway, her bruised back protesting against the movement, ‘so I may have a concussion, I don’t know.’
‘And what does that mean?’ asked Sam, offering her hand to help Fran climb through the open hatch. ‘I mean, what can we do if you do?’
‘Oh,’ said Fran, suddenly aware that she had no idea what, if anything, could be done if her fall had caused any real trauma. ‘Well… I don’t know… but I’m guessing the fact that I’m up and talking means it can’t be too serious... and I haven’t been sick. Isn’t that a good sign?’
‘Where are the bolt cutters?’ asked Tom, seemingly out of the blue.
‘Fuck you!’ snapped Fran, flipping him the finger as she climbed up into the cart; pushing a welcoming Bob out of the way so she could slowly ease herself down onto one of the benches.
‘She’ll be fine,’ smirked Tom, returning to his seat. ‘Takes more than a bump on the head to put this one out of action.’
Gathering together the reins in his hands, Tom paused. Unobserved by the others behind him as they fussed over Fran, he briefly closed his eyes and blew out a long shaky breath. Truth be told, his dismissive remark was purely to hide his overwhelming relief that Fran had returned to them alive with nothing worse than a few bumps and scrapes for her troubles. It could so easily have ended differently and he knew it. So with heart wrenching and bloody images flashing from his memory of other, far more tragic times, he slowly opened his eyes again and looked at the gravel access road ahead of them.
‘Right,’ he finally said, his voice once more the controlled whisper of a seasoned traveller among the Dead, ‘let’s see if we can get to this Trelissick place without any more holdups, shall we?’
And with that he flicked the reins; their journey continuing once more with the creek of wood and the rhythmic clip-clop of Star’s hooves as their constant company.
***
‘Fran, you might want to brace yourself,’ warned Tom, glancing back at her as she rolled her head back and forth, trying to ease her bruised muscles.
‘Why?’ she whispered, halting her movements with a sigh of exasperation. ‘What now?’
‘We’re coming up to a cattle grid,’ he replied nodding back to the road ahead of them. ‘Looks like it’s over a small stream or something.’
‘Great,’ tutted Fran, rolling her eyes as she went back to massaging the side of her neck with her fingers.
‘I guess they must’ve used this Trelissick landing place as a crossing point back in the olden days,’ suggested Tom. ‘You know, before lorries or whatever, when they needed to bring their cattle to market.’
‘Thanks for the riveting history lesson,’ muttered Fran, the aches in her back putting her in an especially bad mood and making her a bit short tempered.
‘Okay… I’ll just shut up then,’ mumbled Tom, in reply.
‘Oh... shit… look, I’m sorry,’ she apologised, realising she was needlessly taking her discomfort out on everybody else, ‘it’s just my back is killing me, I’m hungry and… and I could really do with a wee.’
‘But other than that you’re a happy bunny?’ asked Tom, smirking as he glanced back over his shoulder; pleased to see an embarrassed smile creeping across Fran’s face.
‘Look, I said sorry, didn’t I? You can…’ she started to reply just as the cart wheels rattled over the cattle grid; jolting everyone inside the cart and rather unceremoniously shaking Bob awake from his nap.
With a single startled bark erupting from his throat, everyone in the cart froze; each of them all too aware the sound could attract the Dead.
‘No, Bob!’ hissed Fran, instinctively clamping her hand around the dog’s muzzle hopeful to silence any further sounds from escaping. ‘Sshhh… good boy… ssshhhh.’
‘Anything?’ asked Mike, nervously looking from Bob to Tom and praying that after all they had gone through they weren’t going to get torn to pieces because of a stupid cattle grid and a surprised mangy dog that broke wind too much.
‘There’s three further down the road and then a couple more after that,’ whispered Tom in reply, instantly knowing what Mike meant. ‘They don’t look like they’re in a hurry to get anywhere in particular, so I guess they didn’t hear him.’
‘Thank fuck!’ breathed Mike, looking anxiously over to Sam clutching their daughter close to her chest.
With a fragile smile on her lips, Sam met her husband’s gaze; both of them quite unsure just who was meant to be reassuring whom.
‘How far are we from this crossing anyway?’ Fran eventually asked, her voice still a whisper even though she was sure they weren’t about to be mobbed by the Dead.
‘Well, as far as I can tell from the map, the gardens and the gallery place are just the other side of this wall’ he replied. ‘I’d be surprised if we didn’t see an entrance to the place coming up on the right anytime soon… and then after that it’s straight down to the river and a right turn to Mike’s barge thing.’
For the last five minutes they had followed the high, moss and ivy covered wall that ran the perimeter of the Trelissick Gardens and with the river barely a hundred metres beyond that, they knew they had almost reach the crossing point of Trelissick Landing.
Sure enough, the high walls on their right suddenly fell away revealing a wide gravel driveway. Peering to his right just as Star pulled the cart past a pair of open wrought-iron gates, Tom’s gaze followed the driveway cutting through the overgrown, yet still strikingly landscaped garden, up to the imposing Georgian manor house; its exterior framed by eight tall ivory columns. Tom had to admit it, despite the fact that some of the windows had been broken and that much of the building was now covered in a mix of red and green ivy, the building was still an impressive sight to see. Yet it was not the unexpected grandeur of the building that caused Tom to pause and double take at what he was seeing but rather the trail of smoke rising from one of the many chimneys up into the late afternoon sky.
‘Looks like someone’s home,’ he whispered, pulling Star to a halt; nodding in the direction of the large house. ‘They’ve got a fire going.’
‘Really?’ said Mike, unsure if he should be pleased or wary that they had found signs of other survivors so very close to White Oak Park. ‘I mean with the high walls around Trelissick, yeah, I guess it would make sense that someone would use it but… but what about White Oak? Shouldn’t we try there first anyway… it’s so close?’
‘Hmmm… well, something tells me whoever’s in there either hasn’t been there very long,’ offered Tom, his eyes narrowing as he thoughtfully scratched his beard, ‘or I think they’d be more trouble than their worth.’
‘Trouble… how?’ asked Fran, wincing slightly as she moved to pushed aside one of the spy hole covers.
‘Well, apart from the fact that some of the ground floor windows are broken and no one’s made any attempt to secure them,’ he replied, dropping his voice even lower as he noticed the corpse of a Dead man shuffling into view, ‘I think the fact they’ve left the g
ates open is a bit of a giveaway. My guess is they’ve either just got here, say within the last few hours or so, or they’re a bunch of morons,’ he continued. ‘Either way, I say we leave them to it.’
‘So when you say trouble you really mean burden,’ clarified Fran, frowning as she shook her head despite agreeing with his assessment. ‘Okay then,’ she at last continued, finally letting the cover slip back into place, ‘so we stick to the plan then. We try White Oak Park… and if it turns out someone else has got there first and they’re not looking to add to their numbers… well… well, then we can always come back here, take on the burden of someone who doesn’t think to close a gate behind them and try to secure this place instead… If anything, it’ll do while we decide what to do next… agreed?’
With Fran’s suggestion met with a collection of nods and mumbled words of approval, Tom gave the rising smoke one final disapproving glance and then with flick of Star’s reins they were on the move again.
***
‘W…what do we d…do?’ whispered Kai ten minutes later, his eyes full of concern as he looked back at Fran. ‘We have t…to help her.’
‘Kai, you’re with me,’ said Tom, not waiting for Fran’s reply as he twisted in his seat and reached for a machete attached to the wall of the cart. ‘Stay close and don’t move until I say so. We’re going to make for the side of the café, over there,’ he continued, pointing to the small stone building; the upturned tables and shattered windows testament to the carnage that had occurred here years before. ‘They haven’t noticed the cart yet but they will… at least from there we’ll have the jump on them.’
‘Tom, no, I should…’ Fran started to protest, instantly cursing the small involuntary gasp she made as she moved too quickly.
‘Really?’ he interrupted. ‘The state your back’s in, you’re more of a liability. I’m taking Kai.’
‘Me, a liability, there’s a least three of the Dead out there that I can see from here!’ she spat back, instantly regretting her choice of words and the pained expression that flitted across Tom’s face that they had caused.
‘Take this,’ said Tom matter-of-factly, a mask of cool determination settling over his features as he handed Kai the machete. ‘Fran you know how to drive Star, you take the reins, Mike you…’
‘Tom, I didn’t mean…’ Fran tried to apologize while Tom pushed past her to get to the side hatch.
‘Fran, we don’t have time for this,’ he replied, briefly looking back at her before turning his attention back to Mike. ‘Don’t let her follow us,’ he went on to say, ‘and no matter what happens make sure you three and that daughter of yours get out of here safely, okay?’
‘I… yeah, sure,’ said Mike, a little flustered by the sudden turn of events, ‘but… but you’re sure you don’t need another pair of hands?’
‘Mike, no!’ warned Sam, her eyes suddenly full of worry as she looked from her husband to Tom and back again; fearful his offer may be taken up
‘No,’ Tom replied, his hand hovering over the latch bolt as his gaze drifted to the child held tightly in Sam’s arms, ‘you stay with your family… your daughter needs you.’
Then with dark unheard whispers already itching at the corners of his mind, Tom opened the hatch and jumped out.
‘Every girl needs her daddy,’ he muttered, darting away from the cart; only the heavy sound of Kai’s boots landing on the concrete behind him letting him know he wasn’t alone.
When they had first reached the access road leading down to the landing strip the older barge that Mike had told them about was disappointingly nowhere in sight and with the useless hulk of the modern ferry stalled midway across the wide river blocking their view, they could only assume the barge was already on the other bank. The only other form of transport they could see was a small dilapidated two man rowing boat with the ironic name of ‘Titanic 2’ painted along its side. Unfortunately though, just like the barge, this too had been pulled up far onto the muddy shoreline of the opposite bank.
It was only a few minutes later while they were discussing who should swim over and how they could use the barge’s own guide ropes to stop them being swept away by the current, that Sam calmly pointed out that the barge was now coming into view, slowly appearing from behind the stern of the ferry and that, more importantly, it was also carrying passengers. One by one they turned towards the slit cut in the front of the cart, each eager to see just who was pulling the barge across the river Fal. As it turned out there were four of them, two men slowly dragging the wet ropes up out of the river at the stern of the barge only for them to fall back below the waterline at the bow and a third, holding tightly onto a girl in her early teens; his stance rigid, as if afraid she would fall and follow the ropes to the watery depths beneath them. Tom had assumed these strangers were part of whatever group was already staying back at Trelissick House and was wondering if they should ask them about the state of White Oak Park before trying to cross themselves; that was until they heard the struggling girl’s screams to be set free.
‘Daddy,’ the voice of Tom’s eldest daughter whispered, her breath cold against his ear as he crouched beside ruined café, an overturned table partly hiding him from view while Kai squatted by his side.
‘Not now, Princess,’ Tom mumbled in reply, watching as the barge drew closer and closer to the landing; the men no longer indistinct figures but real and distinguishable as men; men he may be forced to kill, ‘Daddy needs to help another girl… a girl who’s been taken by bad men.’
‘Taken by bad men?’ his eldest daughter almost snorted; the jaded and cruel tone alien to her when alive, ‘Is that all.’
‘And where were you when worse came for your own children?’ the spectre of his wife mocked, her spiteful words plucking at his wounded soul.
‘Don’t… please,’ begged Tom, images of blood and carnage bubbling to the surface of his mind.
‘It’s not fair, Daddy,’ whined the voice of his youngest child, her ghostly mouth surely forming a sulky pout, ‘why does she get to be saved? It’s not fair.’
‘I know, Sweetheart, I know,’ Tom muttered in reply, already slowly creeping forward, only vaguely aware of Kai’s presence following closely on his heels.
By now the wooden barge had come close enough to the cobbled shoreline that the two men pulling it had jumped into the shallow water to walk the rest of the way ashore. The first, a tall middle aged black man with a patchy beard and an even patchier head of hair, strode purposefully forward; his head down as if the presence of those behind him had already been forgotten. His fellow barge-hand, by comparison, was a short, muscular man in his early thirties, with rough looking stubble, thick red hair and a row of tattooed stars creeping up one side of his neck. Unlike the black man, he had paused to aid the man with the struggling girl get down from the platform.
‘Get off me! Let me go!’ the girl cried, twisting in her kidnapper’s tight grip, her face flush with tears. ‘Please, you’re hurting me. Please let me go! I…I want to go back! Please!’
‘I think the little lady said she wanted you to let her go,’ Tom growled, his sudden appearance menacing and unexpected.
‘Shit!’ the black man still ankle deep in water gasped, frantically scrabbling to pull a knife from a sheath on his belt. ‘Ray… Ray, we’ve got company!’
‘I don’t know who you are but this has nothing to do with you,’ said the one referred to as Ray, striding though the water dragging the struggling girl behind him, a fresh set a fat tears spilling over her cheeks. ‘Jog on, mate… don’t get involved!’
‘I’m already involved,’ said Tom, his tone causing the kidnapper to falter; the man’s confidence clearly wavering. ‘More than you know,’ Tom continued, muttering under his breath; his gaze locking with that of the teenager before him.
It was then that an echo of hungry groans sounded from somewhere behind them; the Dead had found them once more and had them in their sights.
‘Tom!’ he heard Kai su
ddenly hiss.
‘How many?’ asked Tom, without looking back.
‘Four… no, now there’s f…five,’ Kai replied, knowing the chances of them dealing with the Dead and at the same time stopping the three men from escaping with the girl were not promising. ‘W…we’ve got ab…about thirty seconds and then they’ll b…be on us.’
‘You don’t know what’s going on here, mate…’ Ray started to say.
‘You’re going to be okay, Sweetheart,’ said Tom, ignoring Ray’s comment to talk directly to the girl.
‘Haven’t you got enough problems about to bite you on the arse,’ stated Ray, using the back of his free hand to push his glasses back up along the bridge of his nose. ‘Why go looking for any more?’
‘Didn’t you hear? I’ve got thirty seconds,’ said Tom, his tone calm and unruffled as he broke eye contact with the girl to look directly at Ray; trying to look intimidating while the ghosts of his lost family whispered from the dark recesses of his mind. ‘You should see the… damage… I can do in thirty seconds,’
For a moment nobody spoke or moved, the silence broken only by the ominous moaning of the Dead as they drew ever closer.
‘Oh, screw this!’ the black man abruptly spat, breaking the silent standoff with a dismissive wave of his hand. ‘I never wanted any of this shit! Ray, Chaz… you’re on your own.’
And with that he began to wade through the shallow water, his hands held aloft in surrender as he stepped over the guide rope and made his way to a steep grassy bank just to the left of them. With one man gone, Tom took as step forward; menacingly spinning the curved blades in his hinds.
‘Hey, wait! Louis! Louis, wait for me!’ Chaz suddenly called after the older black man, as he too abandoned Ray; deciding whatever reason they had for taking the young girl, she clearly wasn’t worth dying at the hands of a complete stranger for.
Star Drawn Saga (Book 2): Lost Among The Dead Page 18
