New Title 1 (36 page)

His heart was beating fast. Casting a cautionary glance around the room to check there was no one around, Ratty made his way to the generator. He didn’t want to waste any more time. He had stuck a stick in a wasps’ nest, now it was time to wiggle it about.

Without any hesitation, he cut wires and pipes, much to
Izzy’s
alarm.

The generator chugged to a halt, steaming and hissing in protest. Ratty punched the air and gave a silent whoop of joy. Strike two. He didn’t know how much effect his sabotage would have, but it was better than doing nothing.

Izzy
looked at him with undisguised panic. He knew she thought he was being foolish, but it made him feel better to break things, and hopefully, as a result, the fog would disperse.

Before he had time to speak to her, an alarm started ringing and
Ratty’s
expression momentarily mirrored
Izzy’s
. He should have known the generator would be alarmed for a situation such as this. The last one he broke was probably alarmed too, but they had been too far away to hear it. He heard shouting outside, and before
Izzy
had a chance to protest, he pulled her toward the door and they exited the building before anyone came to investigate. He quickly led the way along the side of the building. At the far end, they hurried into the fog.
Ratty’s
only aim now was to get as far away from the building as he could.

***

“So what are we going to do?” Chase asked.

Adam shook his head. “I really don’t know.”

Having recovered from her faint, Mandy sat beside Adam. She still appeared a bit woozy, and she had difficulty remembering exactly what had happened, which Chase envied. She could still see Belinda’s face as the bullets struck home, supersonic termites that ate into flesh and bone. No matter how mad or deranged Belinda had become, Chase didn’t believe she’d deserved to die. She had not been responsible for her actions – Nigel Moon had. If anyone deserved to die, it was him. He had used people as guinea pigs and turned a whole village into one huge experiment. And somewhere down the line, someone had let him. Someone, somewhere had allowed this to happen. Whether sanctioned behind the organised chaos of governmental departments or whether the authority came from a higher, shadowy echelon, she didn’t know, but someone had to be held responsible. Somebody, somewhere wielded the power to make things disappear, to sweep them beneath a covert carpet, now she just needed to lift the rug and let people see what had been hidden.

“Do you know if there’s a way out of the village?” Chase asked, leaning forward and staring at Adam.

“All I know is that there’s a fence around the village, the only road is blocked and there are soldiers patrolling in the mist.”

“Well they’re not doing a very good job if a teenage boy can get in,” she said, thinking of Ratty. “Perhaps after so long they’ve become complacent.” The thought instilled her with hope.

Adam shrugged. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Say that you’ll help me.”

“You know I will.”

Just then Chase heard a vehicle approaching, the sound more noticeable because of the lack of traffic in
Paradise
. “Can you hear that?” She stood up, alert and tense.

Mandy looked scared, staring around the room as though searching for a way out.

The noise increased, sounding like a primordial beast as the engine revved.

“It’s only a car.” Adam raised his palms and shrugged as though wondering what all the fuss was about.

“Only a car! And when was the last time you heard a car in the village?”

“I don’t know. I suppose it’s when the deliveries are made to the shop, or when Moon’s men come into the village.”

“They must have heard the shots and come to investigate.”

The noise of the engine seemed to come from right outside the house. Mandy was still on the settee, curled up in a ball.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Chase said, sounding calmer than she felt.

“It’s too late. They’re here.” Adam clutched his face in his hands and shook his head.

Chase pulled his hands away from his face. “We’ve got to go.
Now
.”

“It’s no good. We can’t go anywhere without Moon knowing about it.”

“Well we’ve got to try. Mandy, come on, we’re getting out of here.” She grabbed Mandy and pulled her to her feet. “If you don’t want to come, fine.” She looked down at Adam. “But we’re out of here.” She started toward the rear of the house.

“Hold on, I’m coming,” Adam called after her.

Chase felt relieved he was coming with them, and although she didn’t like it, Adam was armed.

At the rear of the house, Chase hurtled through the kitchen and fled through the back door. She pulled Mandy through the garden, almost tripping on unkempt weeds that had forced their way through cracks in the path. A rusted gate at the bottom of the garden led to a narrow lane and she tugged it open, snapping weeds that had entwined the rusted gate to the post like a natural padlock.

Unsure which way to go, Chase headed further away from the house, wanting to put some distance between themselves and whoever was in the vehicle. She thought she heard shouts to their rear, but the rain and wind dampened and dispelled any sound so that she wasn’t sure whether it was just her imagination, the wind through the trees, or the rain spattering off the leaves.

Mandy followed at her side like a well trained dog and Adam brought up the rear, casting fearful glances over his shoulder. As they rounded a bend, two figures appeared blocking the lane ahead, their features indistinct as they hunched themselves against the deluge. Chase hesitated, unsure whether the figures were soldiers, out to capture them.

“It’s okay,” Adam said, as though he sensed Chase’s uncertainty, “it’s only the pub landlord, George and a young man who lives a couple of doors down from the pub, Eric Stone.”

Chase wasn’t relieved, but she continued along the lane. As she approached George and Eric, Chase noticed the two men look up, their faces distorted by rivulets of water so that their flesh appeared to be melting (or was it changing?) Dismissing the thought, she suddenly recognised Eric as the man she had seen at her reception in
Paradise
. The man with the knife.

“George, Eric,” Adam said, acknowledging the two men.

Chase noticed Eric’s brow furrow into a menacing glare, his close-set, piggy eyes staring out from fleshy sockets. He had a stocky build, his arms folded across his barrel chest. The rain plastered his long hair to his face and he pushed his thick lips out in a contemptuous sneer.

At his side, George wore a sinister, lopsided grin, his crooked teeth protruding from behind his thin lips.

“Excuse me,” Adam said, indicating that he wanted to get past.

Neither George nor Eric moved.

Adam stepped forward, trying to pass between the men. He placed a hand on George’s elbow to gently nudge him aside. George looked from Adam’s hand to his face and growled, a low menacing sound that rumbled from the back of his throat.

“George, we really need to get past.”

George’s growl turned into a snarl and his lopsided grin transformed into a vicious grimace.

“George, are you all right?”

“Of course he’s not all right,” Chase spat. “Just look at him. Come on, let’s go back the other way.” An intense knot of fear twisted her insides as she turned to go back the way they’d come.

“They’ve got the
change
,” Mandy whimpered.

“Adam, come on.” Chase turned back toward Adam and saw that George had grabbed him by the wrists.

“Let me go, George,” Adam said, his tone of voice rising an octave or two as he tried to pull free.

“
Pushed me,
” George spat, his eyes glinting with madness. “
Pushed me
.” He vigorously shook Adam, causing him to stumble back into Eric who winced as Adam stepped on his foot.

“
Fucker
,” Eric snarled, reaching out and grabbing Adam around the throat with his two, large meaty hands that looked more like claws.

Adam gurgled, his face going red.

“Let him go.” Chase’s voice trembled. She didn’t know what to do. She knew that she should help, but the physical appearance of George and Eric held her back. She could see the change in their features, could see the physical manifestation as their body chemistry altered, and it terrified her.

“Mandy, get away from here,” Chase said. Watching the two men, she suddenly realised that Mandy was one of them,
tainted
, and susceptible to the change, and in effect, just as dangerous.

Mandy looked at Chase with wide, fearful eyes.

“Mandy, please, just back away and I’ll try and help Adam.”

But Mandy didn’t move. She was rooted to the spot, her jaw beginning to clench while her eyes narrowed into defensive slits.

Adam’s face had turned purple. He thrashed around within George and Eric’s grasp like a fish on a hook. Spittle flew from his lips as he tried desperately to kick out.

Beyond fear, Chase ran to help him. She grabbed Eric’s hands and tried to prise his fingers apart, but his grip was too tight. Frantic, she slipped her bag from her shoulder and took out the kitchen knife she had dropped in there when she was going to meet Adam in the pub – when had that been? It seemed like a lifetime ago.

Without thinking about what she was doing, Chase slashed Eric’s hand, opening a nasty wound across his knuckles. Eric hardly acknowledged the cut and Chase slashed again, almost severing one of Eric’s fingers. Releasing his grip on Adam, he glared at Chase. Freed from the choking hold, Adam toppled backwards, coughing violently. Still holding onto his wrists, George toppled with him, landing heavily on top of Adam.

As Eric moved toward Chase, she held the knife up like a crucifix, a talisman, hoping that the sight of it would stop Eric from advancing – but it didn’t. He was overcome by the change. Nothing scared him.

Backing further away, she waved the knife like an ineffectual wand, hoping to dispel the monster. But of course it didn’t work. Eric Stone was oblivious to the knife. With a sudden burst of speed that took her completely by surprise, Eric was on her, his teeth gnashing inches from her face, a thin drool of saliva hanging from his lips as he forced her to the floor, pinning her arms down and causing her to drop the knife.

Chase screamed.

Eric Stone leaned forward to bite a chunk out of her face, and the next minute Mandy attacked him like a vicious tornado, a whirl of teeth, hands and feet.

Taken by surprise, Eric rolled off Chase, and Mandy – or whatever she had become – seized the upper hand by leaping astride his back and clutching at his face. Like a bizarre, hideous rodeo show, Eric bucked and jerked while Mandy held on to his face. It seemed to go on for ages, but in reality it was only a few seconds before her finger sank into his eye. Almost immediately, Eric slumped to the ground and Mandy rolled off him, breathing in short, controlled bursts as she looked across at Chase, her anger manifest.

Chase wanted to be sick. She felt the bile rising, the familiar caustic burn of acid in her throat.

She knew that she should run, but where to? Nowhere was safe in
Paradise
.

Mandy advanced toward her, teeth bared in a feral snarl.

Chase was paralysed by fear.