Tabitha (26 page)

‘Tabitha, stay
close,’ said Will, looking back at her. Tabitha jogged on back to them,
checking the street behind them.

‘There, on the
l-left!’ said Liv, raising her rifle. ‘I’ll take it!’ a spider came creeping
towards them from behind an abandoned car, and then scuttled out quickly once
it was close. Liv knelt down on the road and steadied her rifle scope on the
spindly silver shape approaching. Her rifle cracked. The thing dropped dead.

‘Shot!’ said
Will, grinning. Liv felt his hand on her shoulder. ‘Right, let’s pick up the
pace,’ he said, jogging on. ‘The noise is going to bring them all out to look.
Anyway, it’s not far to the police station.’

Tabitha was first through the door into
the station, and closed it after the others once they were inside. There didn’t
seem to be any sign of spiders in here.

‘Are you sure
they keep the riot gear in here?’ said Jim quietly, looking around the gloomy
building.

‘I’m positive,’
Will replied. As Liv and Tabitha wandered ahead into the reception area, Will
took Jim to one side. ‘So
er
, how’s the project
coming along?’ he said quietly.

‘What
project
?’
Liv said impatiently.

‘Never mind,’
Will told Jim. Jim tapped his nose. Liv glared at Will suspiciously as he
walked on ahead into the murky reception. ‘Right. Liv, come with me and we’ll
try downstairs,’ said Will. ‘You two, search the rooms up here please. And be
careful.’

‘Will do,’ said
Jim, following Tabitha down the corridor.

‘Seriously, what
project?’ Liv asked Will, as they headed downstairs.

‘It doesn’t
matter,’ Will said dismissively, leading the way.

Jim and Tabitha stuck together as they
searched dark grey offices and store rooms; they kept their rifles raised and
watched one another’s backs as they edged down the main corridor.

‘Keep an eye out
for first aid kits and things,’ Tabitha suggested.

‘Good idea,’ Jim
replied quietly. Tabitha saw how wide his eyes were in here, even in the grey
half-light of the building. He was petrified.

‘There’s only
three rooms left,’ she told him, trying to ease his mind as he opened the first
door. ‘This is the smallest police station I’ve ever seen.’

‘Have you seen a
lot of police stations in your time?’ said Jim, grinning.

‘Oh no, not at all,’
she replied with a smile. ‘I’ve only seen them on TV really.’

‘Well, I’ve only
seen this one station,’ Jim replied. ‘A good few times though,’ he admitted.

‘Really? What
did you do?’

‘Got drunk,’ he
said simply, scratching his white stubble. ‘Drink never agreed with me when I
was your age. Got me into all kinds of situations.’ Tabitha didn’t know what to
say; that she was sorry to hear it? That it was all behind him now? She let the
silence hang in the air between them.

‘Anyway,’ said
Jim. ‘Well, there’s nothing in here,’ he concluded, searching the darkness in
the first room. ‘Do you think –

‘Jesus Christ,’
Tabitha blurted, and spun around and shot. The spider shrieked and threw itself
back against the wall in the corridor. Its legs kicked and writhed in the air.
Silver blood gushed from the gunshot wound. Tabitha got in close, wrestled its
limbs and shoved her knife deep into its head. The spider shuddered and stopped
moving, dead legs curling in.

‘Are you guys
alright?’ Will said breathlessly, running up the stairs down the corridor.

‘It’s ok,’
Tabitha assured him, stepping aside for him to see the spider. ‘We took care of
it.’

‘We should all
be sticking together,’ Will suggested.

‘What sorry?’
Tabitha replied, her ears ringing from the gunshot.

‘We should all
stay together,’ Will repeated.

‘No it’s fine,
really,’ Tabitha assured him. ‘We’ll get this done faster if we stay in pairs.’
Will glanced from her to the spider and nodded reluctantly, and headed back
down the corridor to speak with Liv.

‘Can we get
going?’ Jim asked Tabitha, breathing heavily. He looked terrified.

‘Sorry?’ Tabitha
replied, ears still ringing.

‘I said can we
get going? Outside?’

‘Not yet,’
Tabitha replied, nodding at the doors at the end of the corridor. ‘Only two
more rooms to check.’

‘They’re
toilets,’ said Jim, following her down the corridor.

‘Yep.’ Tabitha
replied.

‘I don’t think
they’d keep riot gear in the toilets.’

‘No, but there
might be something in there we can use. Toilet paper, for a start.’ Jim’s eyes
lit up. They’d all been missing toilet paper. It was one little luxury away
from a hot shower.

‘Alright then,
you take the ladies’ and I’ll take the gents’,’ he said. He was looking at the
doors like were about to jump out and attack him.

‘No, we need to
stay together,’ said Tabitha. She thought back to Dev in the pub. She’d only
left him alone for a second. That was all it took.

‘I know, but
that’s the ladies’ toilets,’ said Jim. Tabitha looked at him, smiled. He was
serious too.

‘I really don’t
think anyone’s going to mind Jim, under the circumstances.’ Jim thought about
it for a moment.

‘…Yep, good
point.’

‘It’ll be
locked,’ said Liv, following Will down the corridor towards the final door.

‘And you know
that from all the way up here?’ Will replied, grinning.

‘Woman’s
intuition,’ she said, watching the walls for any movement.

‘Bullshit,’ said
Will. He tried the door handle, and smiled at Liv victoriously as the door
opened up.

‘W-Whatever,’
she replied. ‘Let’s just have a look inside so we can go.’ They crept on into
the dark room, pointing their rifles at the corners. Watching for movement;
listening for claws in the dark.

‘I can’t see a
b-bloody thing in here,’ said Liv.

‘Wait,’ said
Will, stopping to inspect something in the blackness. ‘Is that…’

‘What?’ said
Liv, nervous.

‘Oh,
yes.
’
Will rapped his knuckles against hard plastic; a riot helmet as round and
smooth and solid as a bowling ball. ‘I knew they’d be in here,’ he said,
hauling the body armour up from the bench. ‘Man’s intuition.’

‘You’re
unbelievable,’ she replied. ‘This whole trip was a lucky guess. Admit it.’

‘Oh absolutely,’
Will replied, grinning in the dark.

‘You’re a jammy
git,’ she said. ‘We could have been k-killed for nothing coming here.’

‘Well, it’d be
your fault then for following me in here,’ he teased.

‘Of course I’d
follow you in here,’ she said sadly. Will was busy rummaging for plastic
shields in the dark; he hadn’t heard her. Liv hauled up some body armour from
the bench and took it out into the corridor.

‘Well that was a
wasted journey,’ said Jim, walking back down the corridor with Tabitha.

‘Jim, a journey
that ends with soft quilted toilet paper is never a wasted one,’ Tabitha
replied sagely. ‘I bet your bum’s been crying out for this kind of softness.’

‘Well, I won’t
deny it,’ he chuckled. ‘But I say we keep it to ourselves,’ he said with a
wink.

‘Sneaky,’
Tabitha replied, smiling. ‘I like it.’

‘So… that thing
that happened to you before,’ Jim said carefully, ‘the lightning that came off
you in the courtyard… can you do that whenever you want to?’

‘I wish,’
Tabitha replied. ‘It’d make things a
lot
easier. It only seems to happen
when I don’t need it.’

‘That’s useful,’
Jim chuckled. ‘Still, there’s always the off chance it comes in handy, I
suppose.’

‘Come down!’
came Will’s voice downstairs. ‘I’ve found it!’

‘
We
found
it!’ Liv called after him.

‘Hide your
toilet paper,’ Jim cautioned Tabitha. They ducked the rolls behind their backs
as Will came back upstairs.

‘We found the
riot gear,’ Will said happily.

‘Great,’ Tabitha
replied, looking at Jim. Jim nodded.

‘What’s wrong?’
said Will.

‘Nothing,’ Jim
replied. Tabitha shrugged and shook her head to agree.

‘Wait, are you
hiding
something?’ said Will, looking between them with a grin.

‘Nope,’ said Tabitha.
‘Didn’t find anything. So where’s the riot gear?’

‘Show me what
you’re hiding,’ Will chuckled, trying to see behind their backs. A roll dropped
out from Jim’s hands and bounced on the tiled floor. Will grabbed it before Jim
could stoop down for it.

‘Oh my god,’
said Will, feeling the softness of the paper. ‘It’s so smooth.’

‘I know,’ said
Tabitha.

‘Right. Nobody
tell Liv,’ Will said quietly. ‘And definitely don’t tell Chris.’ Jim and
Tabitha shook their heads.

‘Nobody tell me
what?’ Liv called up to them, standing at the bottom of the stairs.

‘…Nothing,’ said
Will, hiding the roll behind his back.

‘Whatever,’ Liv
replied. ‘L-Let’s just get the riot gear and go, shall we? Before we g-get
eaten by spiders?’

‘Good idea,’
said Jim, watching her disappear downstairs. ‘We need to hide these,’ he
muttered.

‘There’s a
sports bag behind the desk there,’ Will whispered back. ‘You two go on, I’ll be
down in a second.’ He jumped over the desk and grabbed the bag.

‘Guys!’ Liv
called impatiently.

‘Coming!’ said
Will, stuffing the toilet rolls into the bag. He motioned to Jim and Tabitha to
head downstairs.

‘Wow,’ said
Tabitha, looking at the gear that Liv had carried out of the lock-up. The
armour stood in a rank against the wall in the corridor, death-black and beautiful.
‘Wow,’ she repeated.

‘I know,’ Liv
said happily, setting down a plastic riot shield so she could show off her new
police belt. ‘Baton, p-pepper spray and handcuffs,’ she said, doing a little
twirl. ‘Everything a girl needs for an
ar-armageddon
scenario. ’

‘There’s no way
the spiders are getting through that,’ said Jim, knocking on a plastic
breastplate leant against the wall.

‘Well, let’s
hope not,’ said Will, walking down towards them. ‘And sorry to say, there’s
only one way to find out for sure.’

‘So let’s f-find
out,’ said Liv, pulling on an armoured vest.

‘Does anyone
else feel awesome?’ said Tabitha, as they headed back through town. They were
all dressed head to toe in black riot gear; plastic shields in one hand and
their rifles slung across their backs.

‘Well, I’d feel
m-more awesome if we weren’t carrying an extra suit for the R-Rat,’ Liv
replied.

‘Agreed,’ said
Will. ‘But even if he doesn’t use it, it’s still spare parts for us.’

‘We should have
come in the car,’ said Jim, lugging the spare boots and leg guards in his arms.

‘It would’ve
been too dangerous,’ said Tabitha. ‘Too much noise. They’d all be out here
waiting for us.’ Will nodded.

‘Well, there’s
one waiting for us,’ said Liv. She dropped the spare arm guards and reached for
her gun. It was harder to move in the riot gear; harder to aim.

‘Rifles!’ Will
told the others, as the spider scuttled closer. The group fumbled for their
guns. Liv’s shot dropped the spider dead on the road, and echoed across the
silent town.

‘You’re an evil shot,’
said Tabitha, pulling her clear visor up to admire the kill. Liv grinned and
blew the gun barrel.

‘There’s more,’
said Jim. ‘Behind us.’ Will turned to look round, and dropped the spare vest
and the sports bag when he saw them.

‘Just leave the spare
stuff guys,’ said Will. ‘Run.’

They raced down the high street,
sprinting breathless past dark dead shops. The silver spiders chittered and
swarmed down the street behind them, chasing them down.

‘Run!’ Will
yelled, hanging back to pick off a couple of spiders with his rifle. The shots
cracked and echoed down the street. Spiders tumbled dead on the pavement. ‘Jim,
get a move on! Come on!’ Will yelled. He ran on behind them, firing on another
couple of spiders getting too close. Tabitha had to hang back for the others to
catch up, surprised at how far ahead she was. Since when could she run like
this?

‘Will, come on!’
Liv shouted to him down the street. He was still firing on the horde, fending
them off. Breathless, Tabitha jogged back down the street to help Jim hurry up.
She saw the look in Liv’s eyes then, as she waited for Will to catch up with
them. There was more than just concern there. It was something deeper than
that.

‘I’m coming!
Just go!’ Will replied, running on at their backs. ‘Take the next street on the
right, it’s quicker!’