‘We can but hope,’ said Fran as she stepped back inside.
I went to join the others. They were watching the land go past. There was space next to Ellis. I went to stand there. Abe pushed past me.
‘Sorry, Jake, I was here first.’
I shrugged. I stood next to Vinnie.
Something was wrong with Abe. He was mad with me. It wasn’t the caravan park. That was ages ago. I thought we had forgotten about that.
It must be Ellis.
Abe watched me on the roof. He saw what I did. Did he want to do the same thing? Was he jealous? He must like Ellis. That made me worried.
Abe was cooler than me. He was better at things. I know Ellis thought so. She had told me. Ellis said I was like her brother. She didn’t say that to Abe. I didn’t want to be her brother.
Harbour
We came to Rye Harbour. The boat slowed down. John said we should hide.
‘Just in case. You never know who or what we’re going to meet.’
‘It looks pretty deserted,’ said Amber.
‘Even so.’
Fran drove the boat into the harbour. I saw a red beacon. It had three legs. Some broken boats floated sadly. I saw metal railings. There was an orange rope wrapped round them. A gang of seagulls flew over us. They wanted some food. There was a big gate at the entrance. Loads of viros were standing there. They looked like they were on holiday.
The Harbour Master’s office was a small concrete building. There was a big wooden shed next to it.
‘Everyone stay here,’ John said.
He got ready to get off the boat.
‘I’ll go ashore to assess the situation.’
‘Be careful,’ said Fran.
She gave him the boat’s first aid bag.
The boat stopped at the jetty. John climbed the wooden ladder. The jetty was too high. We couldn’t see John on top. We had to wait. I stroked Baxter’s head.
A little while later a strange man stood at the top of the ladder. He had a camaflouge coat. He was wearing a red baseball hat. I thought he was the man on the radio.
‘You’d better come quickly,’ he said. ‘You’re all needed in the office.’
Fran was suspicious.
‘Where’s John?’
‘He’s fine,’ said the man. ‘He told me to come and get you all.’
I didn’t trust this man. He was being funny. I looked at Fran. She was studying him. The others came on deck.
‘What’s going on?’ said Vinnie.
‘You all need to get off the boat straightaway,’ said the man. ‘We don’t have much time left.’
‘Much time left for what?’ said Vinnie.
The man got angry.
‘Listen,’ he said and put his hand in his pocket. ‘Get off the boat now. I am not going to ask you again.’
He pulled out a gun. He showed it to us.
‘No more arguing.’
We climbed the ladder one at a time. I went first. Vinnie passed Baxter up to me. We waited for everyone else. Baxter stood close to my leg. He growled quietly.
‘Tell that dog to stop growling,’ said the man. ‘I’ll happily put a bullet in its brain.’
‘It’s alright, Baxter,’ I said.
I stroked his ear. Baxter stopped growling.
Fran climbed up last.
‘If anything has happened to John, I’ll …’
‘You’ll what?’ said the man.
He pointed the gun at her. He laughed. His teeth were dirty.
‘You’ll keep your mouth shut and do what I say.’
He pointed the gun at us.
‘The same goes for you too. We only have two hours left before the tide turns and once it does nothing is leaving here today.’
He nodded at the office.
‘I’ve wasted enough time already. Get inside. I don’t want to hear another word.’
John
John was sitting in a chair. He was handcuffed. Two men stood by the counter. One had dirty trousers. He had a rifle. The other had jeans and a green jumper. He was holding a hammer.
‘John,’ said Fran.
She was worried.
‘I’m fine,’ he said. ‘These men want our boat and nothing else. If we do what they say they’ll leave us alone.’
‘There’s an island further down the coast,’ said the man with the hammer. ‘If we can just get there then we’ll be safe.’
‘Shut up,’ said the man with the pistol. ‘Don’t tell them where we’re going.’
‘Sorry, Pengelly,’ said the man.
‘So, there was no pregnant wife, was there?’ said Fran.
‘Of course not,’ said Pengelly. ‘Just three fine gentlemen ready to take advantage of the kindness of absolute strangers.’
He nodded at the harbour.
‘All the boats out there are broken. We needed something that floats.’
Pengelly pointed at the man with the rifle.
‘Mather makes a very convincing husband, doesn’t he?’
Mather bowed.
‘Mayday. Mayday. Is there anybody out there?’
I didn’t like this. It was really mean. This was a bad trick to play on us. We were only being kind.
‘What about us?’ I said.
Pengelly looked at me.
‘Who gives a shit about you? We’re headed for safety. We don’t care what happens to you.’
He pointed outside again.
‘There’s a large crowd of those things out there and the last thing we’re going to do before we head off is unlock the gate and let them all in.’
‘You wouldn’t?’ said Fran. ‘That’s crazy.’
Pengelly laughed.
‘Isn’t it?’
‘If you let them in we’ll be trapped,’ said Vinnie. ‘Is that what you want?’
‘Who cares?’ said Nolan, the man with the hammer. ‘All we care about is getting to the island. Nothing else matters’
‘It does to us,’ said Amber. ‘If you take the boat then you’re leaving us here to die.’
Nolan shrugged. Pengelly started to get annoyed.
‘It’s my plan. I don’t remember inviting you all here so that we could have a nice discussion about the pros and cons of what I’m proposing.’
‘It’s simple,’ he said. ‘We leave. You stay. We live. You die.’
Pengelly smiled. He was happy with himself.
‘What part of this do you not understand?’
Pengelly patted his pistol.
‘My little friend here says that this conversation is over.’
Pengelly looked at his friends.
‘Mather, you keep an eye on our guests while I get the rest of our stuff together. Nolan, take this key and be ready to unlock the gate as we are leaving.’
Nolan had dirty hair. His chin was really square. He looked sneaky. He would make a great pirate. I didn’t like him. Not one bit.
‘Nothing would give me greater pleasure,’ he said.
Pengelly left.
We were left with Mather and Nolan.
‘You may as well make yourselves comfortable,’ said Mather. ‘You’re not going anywhere.’
We sat down. Ellis didn’t.
‘It’s not too late,’ she said. ‘You could let us all go. We wouldn’t tell anyone. Who would we tell? Give us a chance to get away and we’ll leave you alone. We could be out of your hair before Pengelly gets back.’
Nolan laughed at Ellis. He had rotting teeth.
‘Nice try, kid. The plan is the plan and you’re not going anywhere. Now sit down before I tie you to a chair as well.’
Locked
Pengelly came back. He had two dirty rucksacks. He threw one at Mather. Mather couldn’t catch it.
‘Time to go,’ Pengelly said.
‘Nolan, get the gate while we load the boat. Don’t hang around after you’ve unlocked it. Those things have been there all night. They must be starving.’
Nolan went out. I didn’t like him. I hoped
I never met him again. Not ever.
Pengelly bowed. He was acting.
‘It has been emotional,’ he said. ‘I’d love to stay and chat but we have an island to reach.’
He was teasing. Pengelly laughed.
‘I hear that it only hurts when those things bite you the first time. After that, you tend not to notice.’
Mather had a funny smile on his face. They both left. They locked the door. I heard the key click in the lock.
We were alone.
Vinnie and Fran tried to free John. The handcuffs were tight. They hurt his hands. The fingers were blue.
‘Pengelly has the key in his pocket,’ John said. ‘You lot had better go on without me.’
‘No way,’ said Fran. ‘We’ll get you out of here.’
Fran spoke to me and Abe.
‘Guys, the shed next door has to contain some tools. I need you to find some bolt cutters or something else that will let us get these handcuffs off. If you’re careful you could probably climb out that window.’
I nodded. Vinnie tried to open the window. It was old. The glass was loose. The lock was rusty. Vinnie pulled it open. We could slip through. I went first. I crouched down outside. Someone said something.
‘What the hell?’
It was Nolan. We stared at each other. I was frightened. I thought he was going to hit me with the hammer. He stood thinking. He looked at me. He looked at his hammer. He looked at me again. He stepped at me. The viros began to howl.
Nolan looked over his shoulder. He looked at me. He shrugged.
‘Whatever, kid,’ he said.
He walked away.
Abe climbed out behind me.
‘That was close. I thought he was going to hit you with that hammer.’
‘Me too.’
I saw a wobbly-looking viro wearing swimming trunks. It was coming towards us.
‘Let’s go,’ I said.
We saw the shed. The wood was rotten. There was a small alley next to it. We went down there. We were looking for a door. Abe found one. He kicked it open.
It was dim inside. Some light came through the broken roof. I saw metal shelves on the walls. A broken boat sat in the middle. It looked sad and lonely.
We took a wall each. I looked carefully. My concentration was big. I saw loads of paint pots. There were jars filled with nails. There was a screwdriver. It was rusty. I picked it up. It was heavy.
Abe gasped.
‘Aha!’ he said.
I turned around. He was holding some bolt cutters.
‘These should do the trick.’
Abe smiled.
‘Wait until Ellis sees what I’ve found.’
I said nothing. I headed for the broken door.
Abe was in front of me. He was laughing. It was annoying. I wanted to say shut up. Abe stopped. I bumped into him.
The wobbly viro had blocked the door.
Nicer
‘Back up,’ said Abe. ‘There’s a stupid viro blocking the door.’
The viro had one foot caught in a net. It was trying to get in. The viro looked confused.
‘Don’t be so mean about them,’ I said. ‘That was probably someone’s uncle once.’
‘Not anymore,’ Abe said. ‘Now it’s just a useless lump of flesh that wants to bite great big chunks out of us.’
‘Be nicer, Abe,’ I said. I meant what I said.
Abe laughed at me. He sounded mean.
‘Nicer, Jake? What the hell are you talking about?’
He pointed at the viro.
‘That thing wants to eat me. It wants to hold me down and rip a large chunk out of me with its dirty teeth. It also wants to let its friends eat me as well. They all want to pin me to the ground and rip me to shreds.’
Abe looked angry. He poked my chest.
‘Tell me why you think I should be a bit nicer?’
This wasn’t fair. Abe shouldn’t speak this way to me. I pushed his arm away.
‘Stop it, Abe,’ I said. ‘I’m just saying.’
‘Well don’t,’ said Abe. ‘Don’t say anything.’
He pointed at me.
‘You’re an idiot, Jake, a great big stupid idiot. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re fighting to stay alive here and all you want to do is be a bit ‘nicer’ to these things.’
Abe snorted.
‘Wait until Ellis hears about this. She’s not going to believe her ears.’
My face went bright red.
‘Why would you tell Ellis?’
‘So she can see how stupid you are.’
He paused. He looked at me funny. I felt edgy. My tummy turned over.
‘You like her, don’t you, Jake?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You know what I mean. You fancy her, don’t you? I saw you with her back on the roof. I saw you sniffing her hair. I see the way you look at her, the way you always want to stand next to her.’
Abe’s words hurt. I was unhappy. I was confused.
‘Ellis is my friend. We met on the roof. We’ve been friends ever since.’
‘Yeah,’ said Abe, ‘but you want more than that, don’t you? You want to be more than just friends, don’t you?’
My face burned. I was getting angry.
‘Stop it. Don’t say those things.’
Abe looked happy. He was pleased I was annoyed.
‘Make me. Make me stop saying them.’
I looked at him.
‘No. Just stop saying those things about me and Ellis.’
‘Me and Ellis, is it? Wait until she hears about this.’
‘Stop, Abe. I’m begging you.’
‘I’m begging you.’
Abe made the sound of my voice. It annoyed me more.
I looked down at the screwdriver. I looked at Abe. He looked at my hand. He walked back. The screwdriver was heavy. I pointed it at him. Abe looked scared. He held up his hands. I moved forward.
‘I was only teasing,’ Abe said. ‘I was only having fun.’
Abe went back again.
The wobbly viro grabbed him. It put its baggy arms round him. Abe was caught. He screamed.
‘Help me, Jake. Help me!’
The viro went to bite Abe. He struggled. The viro gripped him.
I liked seeing Abe like this. He was so mean to me. I thought I might leave him here. It felt good to think that. I was really angry. My head filled with nasty words. They got louder and louder. I thought my ears would break.
I hadn’t felt like this before. I felt strange. I felt frightened. I felt good. My arms filled with power. I was ready to attack. I was hard.
Abe looked so small. He was crying. He had snot on his face. The viro tried to bite his throat.
‘Please help me, Jake. I’m so sorry.’
I jumped forward. Abe ducked. I hit the viro in the eye with the screwdriver. I pushed really hard. There was a squelch. The viro howled. It let go of Abe. It fell backwards dead.
Abe was sitting on the floor. He was still crying. I stood big over him. I was so angry. I shouted at him.
‘Pick up those bolt cutters, you bloody baby.’
Nothing
The viros were coming down the jetty. We had to hurry. Abe climbed back in the window. I was behind him. The others were waiting.
‘Thank God,’ said Fran. ‘We were just beginning to worry.’
Abe handed her the bolt cutters. He stood by the door. He was still crying. Amber was worried.
‘What happened, Abe?’
‘Nothing, Sis,’ he said. ‘Just leave it.’
Amber looked at me. She knew something had happened.
‘Jake, what happened out there?’
I could see everyone looking at me. I had a smile. It felt good.
‘We met a viro. It was nothing.’
I kept smiling.
‘Abe held it. I rammed a screwdriver in its eye.’
Ellis looked horrified.
‘You could have both been killed. I wondered what was taki
ng so long.’
‘We were fine, weren’t we, Abe?’
Abe was sad. It made me feel quite good.
‘Yeah,’ said Abe. ‘Jake killed the viro and we escaped.’
Vinnie was standing by the window.
‘We haven’t got long,’ he said. ‘The viros are just down the jetty. They’ll be on us at any moment.’
Fran cut the cuffs. John stood up. He rubbed his wrists. His face was hard.
‘I told them the cuffs were too tight but they wouldn’t listen. I can’t wait to tell them again.’
Fran hugged her husband.
‘Forget about them,’ she said. ‘We’ve got to get out of here.’
‘Guys,’ Vinnie said. ‘It’s too late. Everybody hide.’
Vinnie ducked under the window. Fran and John joined him. The rest hid behind the counter.
I crouched down. I looked through the crack.
The viros went past the window. They were groaning. They looked like people in fancy dress. I saw their twisted faces. I knew that they were once ordinary people. They used to be people’s families.
They were viros now.
A teenage viro stopped at the window. It looked inside. I saw its teeth. Some were missing. I didn’t like to see that. I wondered how the viro lost them.
The viro was right above Vinnie. It was going to see him. I held my breath. The other viros walked past. The teenage viro went with them. They were looking for something else.
I hear a gun being fired.
Vinnie looked through the window.
‘You’ve got to see this,’ Vinnie said.
All the viros were standing on the jetty. They were walking off the side. Some landed on the boat. Others fell in the water.
‘Shoot the bastards,’ screamed Nolan.
‘There’s too many of them,’ shouted Mather. ‘I can’t get a clear shot.’
‘Look out,’ shrieked Pengelly.
I heard his gun firing. It stopped.
‘Aaah!’ Pengelly howled. ‘My arm.’
‘Give me the bloody rifle.’
The viros kept walking off the edge.
The men didn’t say anything else.
Staring
John was the first to speak.
Viro (Book 2): Viro Page 2
