by Fred Crawley
“Don’t be stupid Dawson,” said the woman. “We have our orders. Even if you get this woman out of here do you think the Grigori is just going to leave you alone? They’ll come after you and they won’t rest until they get you.”
Abi couldn’t believe what was going on. She didn’t understand half of what they were talking about. It was all moving too quickly for her and she was exhausted.
The man seemed to waver and the woman took advantage of his indecisiveness to step forwards. Neither of them seemed to have noticed the other figure who had appeared at the end of the alleyway.
“I understand what you’re doing,” said the woman, keeping him talking, keeping him busy so that he wouldn’t understand what she was doing. “We all have moments when we question ourselves, our purpose, but it’s the right thing to do.”
The man didn’t say anything and now the woman was right in front of him. He didn’t try to take the gun away from her or stop her pointing it at Abi. Maybe he had accepted what she said, maybe it all made a kind of sense to him. Or maybe he had seen the figure approaching from the end of the alleyway.
“Captain,” he said. “I don’t think I can.”
She nodded, understanding like a mother or a good teacher. “You’ll learn,” she said and for a moment Abi found herself pitying the woman.
The woman, Gwen, raised the gun and pointed it at Abi. She gasped and with what remained of her strength tried to scramble to her feet but she was too weak, she slipped skidded and only made it a foot or so off the ground before she fell down again.
The man stepped aside and whether he had seen the other figure before or not he certainly did now. The mysterious figure had something above his head, it looked like a bat but that may have just been the way he was wielding it, a plank of wood would have had the same effect. He brought it down on the woman’s head with a crack and she gasped as she fell to the floor.
The man, Dawson, stooped and picked up the gun, aiming it at the man who had just attacked her. The man dropped the bat or piece of wood and the echo filled the alleyway.
Dawson sounded angry. “Who are you?”
The man kept his hands in the air and Abi saw exactly who it was. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Everything started to go fuzzy again and all that she managed to do was gasp the word “Craig” before passing out.
CHAPTER 29
SHE COULD HEAR THE THUNDEROUS SOUND OF AN engine and the ground seemed to move beneath her. Abi opened her eyes expecting to see smoke but the air was clear. Craig was sitting beside her, his ashen face tortured with concern. She tried to smile at him but it came out more like a grimace.
“How are you feeling?” he said. She realised he was holding her hand.
“I’ve been better. Where are we going?”
“To a hospital,” he said.
Instinctively her hand went to her stomach. Had something happened to their daughter. “What’s wrong?” she said.
“Don’t worry, Victoria’s fine.”
She flinched as he said the name and shook her head. “We need to think of something else to call her,” she said.
Craig didn’t ask why, there would be time for questions later. Until then she was happy that she had found him again and that they were together. The city smouldered beneath them and there would be questions about that too. She squeezed Craig’s hand as tightly as she could and waited to see what would happen next.
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About the Author
Fred Crawley is an open pen name used by James Loscombe for publishing horror fiction.
Fred / James lives in the UK, which might go some way to explaining why he finds horror stories so fascinating.
