Rose stopped for a second, her hands on her hips. “No, I would have been trying to go to sleep on the cold, dusty, concrete ground. I probably would have been ripe for those two hunters to come in and slit my throat while I had my eyes closed. What point are you trying to make, Flynn?”
When Rose set off again, Flynn walked with her. This time he kept his mouth shut.
The large decrepit office building stood on the horizon. Flynn had to shake the thought of Vicky from his mind at that moment. Hard enough to think about her when he felt positive. He broke the silence between them. “Why don’t we just move on? We have our own shit to deal with. We won’t be any good to Home and the people in the royal complex if we get killed by the rats.”
“We won’t get killed.”
“Now there’s a solid plan. Why didn’t I think of that?”
Rose sighed and shook her head. “Look, I understand this situation is stressful, but I need to be the change. I can’t let kids be abused and taken advantage of. How many times do I have to say it?” After turning around and pointing in the direction of the two hunters they’d just taken down, she said, “There are people like that in this world. Who’s going to look out for the kids if I don’t?”
Silence.
“I’m not asking you to come with me, Flynn.”
And she wasn’t. “But I can’t not,” Flynn said, the words leaving his mouth before he’d thought about them.
“Sure you can. Go back to the barn and wait for me.”
The rage had clearly left her because she walked more at ease than before. Flynn stepped closer to her and softened his tone. “I can’t let you go back in there on your own.” His pulse quickened and his lungs tightened at the thought of saying it, of laying himself bare so soon after Angelica. But they’d talked in circles until then, each one being pissed off with the other. Someone had to break the pattern. Heat rushed through his cheeks when he said, “I’m sorry about being a dick. I shouldn’t have suggested the hunters attacking us was your fault. The truth is, I don’t want to be separated from you. I don’t want to sit awake in the barn all night, worrying about you not coming back.”
The sounds of the night replied to him: the hoot of an owl, the wind running over the meadow outside, the chirp of crickets. Rose stared at him. She looked like she wanted to say something.
Before she could speak, Flynn shook his head, “Anyway, what do we do when we save the kids? I don’t want to look after them.”
“You think they need looking after? I thought they got the food and did the hunting? By the sound of it, they’ll work it out pretty quickly, I’m sure. Look, I don’t want to spend the rest of the night debating it. I’m going back there. You can come if you like, it’s your call. Either way, make a choice and accept it.”
His face still burning from the shame of Rose’s rejection, Flynn kept stride with her and focused his attention on the ruined town. At least he had an answer. She wasn’t into him in that way. He’d been a fool to think otherwise.
Chapter 13
Rose’s rejection of Flynn trebled the weight of the tiredness in his body. Although he continued to follow her, he walked a few steps behind. Cold, exhausted, and with his wrists throbbing with the spread of infection, he felt like going back to the barn. But he couldn’t leave her on her own. Rejection or not, he needed to put his ego to one side and do the right thing by her.
The sound of the wind and the swish of the long grass filled what would have been silence between them. Flynn’s jaw ached from clenching it tightly against the bitter chill running over the meadow.
The craggy silhouette of the old office block grew in size until it dominated the view. Impossible to look at it and not think of Vicky, regardless of how he tried to shut her out. Flynn looked at the top floor and he heard the call of the diseased ring through his mind. It didn’t matter how many years it had been, he could remember the hellish sound like he’d only just heard it.
Several glances over his shoulder, Flynn saw the dark rise of the slope behind them. He saw the large blocky shadows of corroded vehicles on the road. Other than that, it looked clear. If there were any more hunters about, maybe they’d seen what had happened to the last two and thought better of it.
“I’ve lost a lot of people in this life, Flynn,” Rose said.
A frown so deep it dimmed his view of her, Flynn shrugged. “That doesn’t make you special.”
“Wow!”
“Well, what’s your point?” Flynn asked, shocked at his own bitterness.
All the while she spoke, Rose stared at the ruined town in front of her. The wind tossed her hair, pulling it back to reveal her beauty beneath. It taunted him. He’d been an idiot to think the feelings would be mutual. “I dunno, I just find it hard to get close to people now.”
“I’ve already got the message, Rose. Let’s not dwell on it, yeah? I understand a hint, you don’t need to fucking spell it out. I mean, what is it about women wanting to talk a matter to death? I nearly said something stupid, idiotic in fact, and you made it perfectly clear that I’d got the wrong end of the stick. I get it.”
Although Rose didn’t look at him, Flynn saw the pinch of her eyes and watched her heave a deep sigh. She looked like she wanted to reply but didn’t. Thank god, they didn’t need to analyse his fuck-up.
A few seconds later, Rose led the way beneath the railway bridge. She didn’t look at Flynn as she walked. Although they didn’t speak, the sound of their footsteps announced their arrival to the town. Not that a small noise mattered, Flynn had no doubt the rats were already watching them.
Chapter 14
They were probably being watched. It would have been naive to think otherwise. But they’d walked for about twenty minutes through the town, and as yet, Flynn hadn’t seen a single rat. His eyes stung from how hard he searched the shadows. Nothing.
Neither Flynn nor Rose had said a word to one another as they delved deeper into the dark wreck of the place. They’d gone farther in than he’d ever been before.
It looked to Flynn like Rose had followed the KEEP OUT signs. Instead of warning them off, they appeared to give them the perfect path to the rats.
When they arrived at an old housing estate, Flynn took the place in, his mouth open wide. It was the residential side of the twisted town.
A wall stood in front of them. It had a gap in it that no doubt had gates across it at some point. The wall was covered in blood-red scrawls; the words KEEP OUT repeated over and over. Maybe the rats did know how to write; although it was likely someone else had done it.
The bleached remains of human skeletons littered the ground. Despite the weak moonlight making it hard to see, when Flynn looked down at the long bones, the teeth marks on them couldn’t have been any clearer. Whatever had feasted on them had chewed all the way to the marrow.
Rose stopped a few paces ahead and waited for Flynn to catch up before she said, “Looks like we’re here.”
“You think?” The housing estate beyond looked like a hellish approximation of suburban living. The underside version of what had once been the British dream. A detached four-bedroom house in a nice gated community. Two cars on a driveway big enough to accommodate them. A small one, no more than a station car that could be left during the day while the worker of the couple commuted to the city, the other one a people carrier for the children and everything that came with them. Sterile living for a sterile existence in corporate Britain.
The windows on every house had been smashed. Doors had been kicked off. Darkness sat deep within every building. An army could be hiding in any one, or even all of them. An army waiting for the right moment to attack.
When Rose stepped forward, Flynn followed her. Where he’d been cold before, he shivered uncontrollably now as fear-induced adrenaline added to the chill in his bones.
They made it to the first house and Flynn copied Rose in pressing his back against the rough wall of it. The coarse brickwork rubbed against his still-healing brand. A dull
er sting than the one in his wrists, but still there. His bandaged wounds then throbbed when he put his attention on his rope burns. He needed to get them cleaned up soon before the infection got so bad he’d have to amputate his fucking hands.
They moved along the side of the house, deeper into the dark and still estate. The wind and the slight scrapes of their movements were the only sounds in the place. It felt like even the buildings held their breath, waiting for the moment to release chaos on them.
As he walked, Flynn looked up at the first-floor windows. Were he in the rats’ position of trying to defend the place, he would have stationed guards high up in the houses. They’d be able to survey the area from up there. But he couldn’t see any movement.
Then Rose grabbed Flynn’s arm, making him jump. His heart on overdrive, he looked to where she pointed and saw the faint glow of candlelight in one of the downstairs windows of one of the houses.
When Rose looked at Flynn, he pulled a deep breath to calm himself and nodded for her to lead the way.
They crossed an old road to another house before disappearing back into the shadow cast by the tall building. Although they’d exposed themselves a few times already, until they knew they’d been seen, they had to assume they hadn’t. And what would the rats do anyway? They’d come here to help liberate them. Surely they’d see that and let them through.
They passed another downstairs window and Flynn winced as he peered into the darkness inside. Although he expected a jack-in-the-box shock, he saw no sign of life in there. Maybe all the rats stayed together in the candlelit house. Maybe whoever controlled them had them in some kind of prison they couldn’t escape from. Rose had been right to come back here. They couldn’t let the suffering continue.
Just a road between them and the candlelit house now, Flynn’s throat dried and he fought the urge to appeal to Rose to turn back. Instead, he watched her poke her head out, his stomach tight. She then ran for it, stooping as she crossed over to the candlelit house as if a stoop would hide her in plain sight. If the rats were vigilant, they’d already seen them.
But what else could Flynn do? He peered around the house next and followed her across, running in a crouch like she had.
As she’d done with the other houses, Rose pressed her back to the wall of the lit-up house and Flynn followed. When she got to the brightest window, she peered into the room for the briefest second before quickly pulling back.
Flynn gasped to watch it. Had they seen her?
Rose moved back to Flynn, her eyes wide as she spoke in a whisper. “There’s an adult in there, just like we thought.”
Before Flynn could respond, Rose moved off again, dropping down onto all fours so she could crawl beneath the window and get to the other side of it, giving him a chance to look in.
The room must have been the house’s lounge. Packed with small bodies, they sat around on tatty furniture that had clearly been scavenged from other houses. There looked to be at least fifty grubby kids in there, lit candles dotting the space surrounding them. In the centre of them—like Rose had feared—sat a man on a throne-like chair. A vicious-looking fucker, he slept surrounded by kids. They’d done the right thing in coming back to the town. This couldn’t carry on.
After Flynn pulled away from the window, he dropped down onto all fours too.
“This is why we came here,” Rose said across the gap beneath the window. She picked up a broken brick from the ground. “If we do nothing else in this town, we have to take that man down. We have to put a stop to this.”
They’d come this far, so it made sense. Hopefully the little fuckers would appreciate the gesture and not lynch them afterwards. A deep breath, Flynn said, “Okay. I’ll follow your lead.”
Chapter 15
Flynn set off after Rose towards the front of the house. They were going to burst in through the front door, go straight for the man, and take him down before he had time to react.
Just before he rounded the bend, he moved back to peer in through the window into the living room. And thank god he did. “Shit!” he muttered, dread sending cold prickles up the back of his neck. Just before he could call to Rose, she vanished around the corner towards the front door. “Shit!”
Hard to run and remain quiet, Flynn did his best as he chased after her. If she busted into that house now, they’d be well and truly fucked. They’d gotten it wrong. Their fight wouldn’t be them against the man, it would be them against the room full of rats.
Flynn darted around the corner in time to grab Rose’s arm just before she reached down for the door handle. She snapped an angry glare at him as he dragged her back, resisting his pull, but not enough that he couldn’t get her away. For a moment, she looked like she’d swing for him, but his face must have shown her she needed to listen.
“What?” she said when he’d pulled her back around the side of the house.
Out of breath from panic more than anything, Flynn said, “The man isn’t holding them hostage.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The man’s strapped to the chair. His neck, his wrists … The rats have him held prisoner, not the other way round.”
Before Rose could say anything else, Flynn dragged her back to where they’d been standing before. Close to the window, he pointed at it. “See for yourself. Go on.”
While Rose peered into the house, Flynn crawled beneath the window to remain hidden from view. He stood up on the other side and looked in too.
At that moment, the man, who’d had his eyes closed until then, slowly opened them, squinting as if the candlelight in the room dazzled him. Maybe they’d drugged him with something. Although from the size of the welt on his head, it looked like they’d probably just knocked him out.
It took just a few seconds before he opened his eyes wide, the realisation of his situation clearly kicking in. He looked at the children around him, his mouth forming a perfect O of terror. “You little bastards!” he said. “What are you going to do to me?”
The children in the room came to life. A writhe of revulsion curled through Flynn to watch their slow and deliberate movements. Where they’d been dozing, they roused themselves, standing up and shifting across the furniture so they surrounded him. More animal than human, they looked confident in their control of the situation.
The man twisted and jolted in his chair, the wooden feet cracking against the hard floor. Red-faced, he jumped around as much as his restraints would allow and took in the room like he’d not seen it before.
The rats continued to close around him. Silent in their movement, ravenous with their intent.
“What have I done to you?” the man shouted. Not that it made any difference, the rats continued to press in around him with their slow and deliberate crawls.
A glance at Rose showed Flynn the frown on her face. He watched her chew the inside of her mouth before he turned back to the little creatures.
The rats were like a rising tide. Slow, steady, and utterly unstoppable, they converged on the man as his breaths quickened with his panic.
Maybe Flynn should have tried to do something, but what? They were outnumbered by the little fuckers. They wouldn’t last two minutes if they challenged them.
When the rats had surrounded the man, they parted slightly for one of the larger children. Old enough to have stubble on his face, he stood at just over six feet tall. Still carrying the skinny frame of a boy, he must have been about fifteen.
As one, the rats dipped their heads in their leader’s presence.
The rats had a reputation for liking their prey conscious when they ate them. Although Flynn knew what to expect and twisted most of his body away from the window, he couldn’t take his eyes from it.
It looked like the leader was about to kiss the man. He leaned in and turned his head to the side. However, instead of going for his lips, the stubbled teenager opened his mouth wide and bit the man’s nose with a crunch.
The sound ran straight to Flynn’s stomach and he
fought against a heave.
The man released a nasal scream that ran through the estate. The echo died in the night. No one cared. He continued to shake and writhe in his seat, fighting to get free of his bonds. The legs of the chair banged against the hard floor again when he jumped up and down.
A free-for-all, the rats closed in. They’d bowed down to their leader; now they could have their feed. The little beasts converged on the man with their mouths open wide, latching on to whatever part of him they could get to.
Hysterical screams, the man still tried to fight as the rats bit into him. Some of them chomped down on the top of his head as if they could get through his skull.
All the while, Flynn could still see some of the man’s face. He watched blood running from his head, the glistening red standing in sharp contrast to the whites of his wide eyes.
The screaming lasted for a few more seconds before the lead rat forced the man’s head back and bit into his throat.
A loud gargle, several sharp convulsions, and the man fell limp. A second later, Flynn lost sight of him to the swarm of rats.
By the time Flynn looked back at Rose, slack with the shock from what he’d just seen, he found her staring at him. At least, he thought that was what he saw. After he’d looked at her for a few seconds, he saw she actually looked past him.
A chill in his bones, Flynn fought against his reluctance and turned to see what Rose had. The cold of the night smothered him when he saw it.
The wide and ravenous eyes of a rat stared at them from the front of a nearby house. It had moved out onto the lawn and stood statuesque in its unwavering observation of them. It hunched down like an animal readying an attack.
When it drew a deep breath and opened its mouth wide, time seemed to slow down. Knowing what was coming, but unable to do anything about it, Flynn winced in anticipation of the noise.
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