Six Days With the Dead (40 page)

‘
Dear God!’ Sister Josephine said, crossing herself, ‘That poor woman.’

‘
So how do we get Anne back?’ Phil asked. ‘Where on earth do we start looking for her?’

‘
That’s the problem, they could’ve gone anywhere,’ Liz said passing back and forth ‘we’ve no idea where to start looking. But Charlie, Imran and myself are going to find her. We’ll be leaving at first light.’

Liz didn
’t have to say the words, everyone already knew the three of them would either return with Anne or they would not return at all. Charlie knew Alice would argue that she should come with him, but he was determined she should stay here, safe behind the high walls. Liz knew there would be raised voices tonight coming from Charlie’s room. Alice would not give up on her man without a fight.

‘
God! It makes me so fucking angry. We opened the doors to those bastards and they do this shit!’ Liz said feeling the frustration and despair of the whole situation turning to anger in her. ‘And that bitch had the nerve to give Anne that fucking Carnglaze bracelet to butter her up, pretending to be nice. Fuck!’

‘
Caverns…’ came a small voice across the room.

A few people turned in Penny
’s direction, still unaccustomed to the young woman’s mind being present. Since she had woken from the self imposed imprisonment of her mind, Penny had gone through the collection of clothes they kept in the store room and was now dressed quite differently to her usual attire. Gone was the faded print floral dress that even the dowdiest of women would have turned their nose up at, to be replaced by black jeans, work boots and a T-shirt printed with the name of a band no one would ever remember.

‘
What did you say Penny?’ asked Lars, sitting protectively next to her. It would take some getting used to, this more aware version of the girl he has looked after for the last seven years.

‘
Carnglaze Caverns,’ she repeated, looking at Lars. ‘Don’t you remember Sir, sorry, I mean Lars. Don’t you remember, we went to the caverns on the second day of the field trip. You took us to see the rock formations.’

For some reason, the last seven years had barely registered in Penny
’s mind but her memories of everything else before the Dead came, were as clear as if they only happened last week.

‘
Carnglaze Caverns? wait, yes I remember…’ he said, looking towards Charlie and Liz. ‘It’s a large limestone cavern with an underground lake. The council turned it into a sort of tourist attraction, you know, built a café among the stalagmites… had a gift shop, that sort of place.’

‘
The sort of gift shop that sold bracelets with crystal pendants?’ Liz said, her hope rising, perhaps they had a starting point after all. ‘It looked brand new, perhaps that’s where the Reverend and Ruth are really from and it was something she took from there?’

‘
Now don’t jump to conclusions Liz,’ Charlie butted in before she convinced herself and the rest of the group that’s where the couple had taken Anne. It couldn’t be that simple. ‘You’re just clutching at straws, you know that.’

‘
Yes, I know I’m clutching at straws, but that’s all we got’ she snapped at him, instantly regretting her tone.

‘
If I remember correctly, the cavern only has one entrance and that had thick metal railings cemented into the rock with a gate in it,’ Lars said, looking to Penny for confirmation. ‘Would make a pretty good place to set up home and with the underground lake being fresh water too, that’s another thing in its favour.’

After much debating among the group, Charlie finally relented and it was decided that rather th
an just wander the countryside hoping they would come across the Reverend and his wife, they would go to the Carnglaze Caverns first and work from there. Lars showed them on the map where the caverns were and Charlie estimated it would take most of the following day to get there, as long as they didn’t run into any other trouble on the way.

****

Anne, exhausted and tired, had cried herself to sleep only to dream of her friends reaching for her with Dead hands and hungry mouths. As the cart bumped over a particularly large pot-hole she was jolted awake. Momentarily forgetting where she was, it wasn’t until the Reverend thrust a small bottle of water at her, that she remembered what had happened.

‘
We’re not monsters…’ the Reverend had told her when he finally removed her gag, hours after they had left the convent that morning, ‘but you had to be saved from them. With the others you will be part of a new Eden. By being born with no stain upon your soul, the Lord has blessed you.’

Anne wasn
’t sure what he was talking about and didn’t care, she just wanted to go home.

‘
My sister’s going to kill you,’ she said, coldly.

She knew it was not just the empty threat of a scared little girl. She knew it as a simple fact, Liz would find her, and these people
would pay for what they had done. With a crack, the Reverend’s hand sprung out and slapped her hard across the face.

‘
I think this one has been with them too long, Ruth. She spits in the face of God,’ the Reverend said, the hate coming off him in waves.

Ru
th, pulling on the reins, stopped the cart and turned to her husband, her blue eyes as harsh as ice.

‘
You will not strike the child, Nathan,’ she said, her calm tone full of command. ‘She, together with the infant will be tested like the others. Only the Lord can truly look upon her soul and judge her worthy. If she is found wanting, the Lord will know it and cast her down into the pit to writhe for eternity with the others who dared to hide their putrid sin behind the mask of an innocent.’

‘
Yes Ruth,’ he replied, looking a little ashamed of his action.

With a small nod, Ruth turned back to the road and resumed their journey. Anne didn
’t like the sound of being tested and wondered how they could possible test a baby, barely a few days old.

Taking the bottle
from the Reverend, she tried to see if she could get any clues as to where they were headed. From the colour of the light coming through the front view slit, Anne realised she must have slept the afternoon away. The strange murky light of dusk had descended upon the countryside and, as the sun finally dipped out of sight over the horizon, Ruth pulled the cart to a stop for the night. They would be many miles away from the Convent by now and with no idea how to get home and completely weaponless, she knew she would just have to accept her situation and wait for Liz to come for her.

‘
Eat,’ the Reverend said, passing her a piece of dried meat.

The meat tasted dry and had a smoky almost dirt like aftertaste, but as she hadn
’t eaten all day she forced herself to eat it.

‘
What about the baby?’ Anne said, looking over at the unusually quiet infant, wrapped tightly in a cloth.

As Ruth was obviously not the baby
’s real mother, Anne wondered what they were feeding it. Whatever it was, Anne thought it plainly wasn’t agreeing with the child. It lay motionless with flushed cheeks.

‘
Never you mind about the baby,’ Ruth said, climbing into the back of the cart with them. Reaching up to remove a bottle from a box, Ruth began to drip a watery white liquid over the infant’s lips. Anne could tell from the odd earthy smell the liquid gave off, that it was not milk.

‘
She must be drugging the poor baby to keep it quiet,’ Anne thought to herself, as Ruth replaced the bottle once the baby had swallowed a few drops. She then took some water and forced the baby to swallow some, keeping it hydrated, if not fed. Ruth and Nathan then began to pray. Anne didn’t know if it was the low monotonous repetition of their prayers making her drowsy but despite being asleep for most of the afternoon, she could feel her eyes drooping heavily. As the last piece of meat fell from her limp hand, she could feel herself drifting into an unnatural sleep. Anne realised through her stupor that whatever drug they had used on the baby must have been put on the meat too.

‘
She would have to be careful in the future, these two were tricky,’ she managed to think to herself before her mind became jumbled and fuzzy. She tried in vain to fight against the drug coursing through her small body but before she knew it, she was back in her dreams and so were the Dead.

***

Back at the convent, Liz lay gently in Imran’s arms as they both tried unsuccessfully to sleep. Even now she could feel him crying silently next to her. His pain mirrored in her, was made even more unbearable because there was nothing she could do to ease his loss. Liz looked over at the small empty bed next to the one she currently shared with Imran, the blankets still unmade and rumpled from Anne’s previous night’s sleep. Slowly she reached across to touch the pillow laying askew on the bed. Desperate to feel some mystical connection to her stolen sister but feeling only the physical pillow instead, she vowed to herself and to a God she sometimes doubted was even there, that this bed would not remain empty for long.

‘
I’m coming, Anne,’ she thought to herself, ‘I’m coming.’

DAY 6

Liz
’s dreams that night were haunted with searching and a sense of painful loss. She would see herself running through endless dark corridors, frantically searching for her sister, who’s cries echoed distantly amongst the shadows. When her eyes finally opened, the pain followed her from her dreams to sit in her chest, like a weight threatening to pull her down into despair. She could feel Imran breathing next to her, his very presence giving her the strength she knew she would need if she was to get her sister back. With Imran and Charlie at her side, they could do the near impossible, and not only find Anne in a landscape of the Dead, but also make the Reverend and his wife pay for what they had done. Imran had cried and mourned the loss of his brother long into the night, finally falling asleep in her arms in the early hours. Gently swinging her legs over the side of the cot, trying her best not to wake Imran, she looked back at the man she loved, surprised to see him looking up at her.

‘
Sorry, did I wake you?’ she asked, stroking his face softly with her fingertips.

‘
No, I was only dozing really. Anyway, the sooner we’re up, the sooner we can get Anne back from those bastards,’ he replied, kissing her hand.

The sad smile on his face doing little to hide the obviou
s pain lurking behind his eyes still red from crying.

Once they had both washed and dressed, Imran and Liz made t
heir way down to the kitchen. It seemed to Liz, despite everyone’s attempt to wash away the carnage that had occurred the previous day, she could still smell the coppery tang of spilt blood in the air. When they entered the kitchen, Sister Rebecca was standing by the range cooking porridge as usual, but Liz could tell something had changed within her. Looking up at them with red puffy eyes, Sister Rebecca could barely manage to keep the brittle smile on her lips. Watching her, Liz noticed the Nun’s eyes being drawn to the large dark stain on the stone floor, a permanent reminder of Sister Catherine’s pointless death. Liz decided she was going to suggest that perhaps they should use the bottle of bleach they had found in the supermarket van, to remove the stain from view. They were all too aware of the loss they had suffered yesterday, they didn’t need another reminder staring them in the face every time they came into the kitchen.

‘
Phil and Richard are digging the graves, just outside the wall, over by the tree line,’ Sister Rebecca said sadly, as she placed the bowls in front of Liz and Imran. ‘I don’t know if they’ll be ready before you go this morning.’

‘
That’s alright,’ Imran said, meeting her gaze. ‘I’ve already said my goodbyes to Mohammed. We can pay our respects to those we’ve lost when we return. Getting Anne back is the top priority now.’

With an understanding nod, Sister Rebecca turned to fill two more bowls with the warm p
orridge for Alice and Charlie, who she could hear coming down the corridor.

As they entered, Liz knew she had been right about Alice arguing her point to come with them, what she hadn
’t foreseen was that Charlie would relent and let her. Even now Charlie’s anger and annoyance at the stubborn woman by his side, was written all over his face. Alice must really have worked a number on him to get him to change his mind, and deep down, although she wanted Alice to be safe, she couldn’t hold it against her. If the tables were turned, she certainly wouldn’t accept being left behind either. After all, this may be a one way trip. If Anne wasn’t at Carnglaze Caverns, who knew when they would be able to return to Lanherne.

‘
So I guess you’re coming too,’ Liz whispered to Alice as she sat down.

‘
Damn right I’m coming,’ she replied, the resolve in her eyes quite evident. ‘I told him either I travel with you or I follow you in Williams cart, the choice was his.’

‘
Not much of a choice,’ Charlie said, sitting down next to her.

‘
So what’s the plan?’ Imran said, eager to get on the road.