Tabitha (29 page)

‘They just feel
warm,’ she replied, dropping them back down in the fireplace. ‘I don’t have
much feeling left in my hands any more. It feels nice.’

‘What happened
to you?’ said Sylvia, looking her up and down with morbid curiosity.

‘They did. The
spiders,’ Tabitha replied. ‘By rights I should be an empty skin, but I’m not.’

‘So you changed
when they stung you, is that it?’ said Sylvia. Tabitha nodded. She stood up
from the fire, and went to look out of the window for any sign of the car on
the country road.

‘Sometimes I
wonder if I’ve got more changes to come,’ Tabitha admitted, watching the clouds
in the pale blue sky. ‘I mean, I haven’t eaten in weeks.’

‘You can’t
stomach food
any more
?’ said Sylvia, watching her
with fresh concern. Tabitha glanced at her; shook her head. ‘Perhaps you’re
turning into one of those things then, since they stung you,’ Sylvia said
coldly. ‘In that case you’ll need to eat what they eat. And you and I both know
what that means.’

‘I’m not turning
into one of
them
,’ Tabitha replied, pissed off with Sylvia already.
‘Whatever I’m changing into, I’m still human.’

‘Nevertheless,
let me make one thing clear from the start,’ said Sylvia, fixing Tabitha with a
stare. ‘I saw the way you looked when I found you upstairs. Unnatural. Now I
haven’t brought my family through hell the past few weeks only to have them
threatened in our new home by a strange woman with a strange appetite. People
have threatened my family before, and they’ve lost.’

‘You killed
them?’ said Tabitha.

‘I killed them,’
Sylvia echoed. ‘And if anything else
changes
in you that puts my family
in danger, I’ll kill you too.’

‘I don’t doubt
it,’ Tabitha said grimly, watching the car appear on the road in the distance.
‘But if you do, I’ll be taking you with me.’ Sylvia looked into those stark
gold eyes across the room, catching the daylight like a cat’s. There was
something about the girl that she couldn’t put her finger on; something wild
and unsettling.

‘I’m sure you
will,’ Sylvia replied.

25

‘Welcome to your
new home,’ Will told Sylvia happily, as they walked through the iron gate into
the castle courtyard. Tabitha trailed behind them and closed the gate, and
turned to see Jim in full conversation with the newcomers in the garden. Chris
hovered around on the wall, watching the strangers carefully. Especially the
sad blonde girl.

‘Now we’re all
here,’ said Will, ‘Guys, this is Sylvia. This is her son Paul, and his kids –

‘Natalie, Robert
and Grace,’ Sylvia interrupted. ‘But Paul isn’t my son. We’re a family by
necessity, and I’m afraid I’m not at all related. More’s the pity.’

‘Well, we know
what you mean,’ Will replied. ‘We’re a family too.’

‘A dysfunctional
one, sometimes,’ Liv said with a smile, tipping her head in Chris’s direction.

‘No such thing,’
Sylvia said dismissively. ‘A family is, by definition, functional.’

‘Well, I suppose
it is,’ Will replied brightly. Behind him, Liv and Jim caught one another’s
looks.

‘I think there’s
someone the kids might like to meet,’ said Tabitha, opening the door of the
keep.

‘Oh god, it’s a
dog,’ said Sylvia, grabbing Paul’s arm in fear as Laika came padding out. They
both looked terrified. ‘Is it diseased?’ Sylvia demanded. ‘Has it bitten
anyone?’

‘No!’ said
Tabitha, fussing over Laika as she tried to lick at her face. ‘Well, I mean
she’s bitten
some
people, but only to protect me.’

‘Are you bad
with d-dogs?’ said Liv.

‘Just the packs
that have been trying to kill us for weeks,’ Sylvia snapped. ‘Paul, keep the
children away from it!’ Paul shrugged and smiled while his kids met their new
favourite interest.

‘Have you ever
tried to separate kids and dogs?’ he said, grinning while his kids gave Laika
the fussing of a lifetime. His sad sandblasted face changed completely when he
smiled.

‘She’s a good
dog,’ said Jim, trying to stop Sylvia looking so worried. ‘Anyway, you all look
like you could do with some food in you. I’ll bring out some fried eggs and
beans for you, if that sounds alright. And a pot of tea.’

‘Raw potatoes
and dirty water would sound good to me about now, actually,’ said Sylvia, with
an unexpected smile. ‘Anything more would be heaven.’ Jim smiled, and led Paul
and Sylvia off to the keep.

‘Yeah, why don’t
we just use up all our food in one go?’ Chris mumbled to himself up on the
wall, turning to look out at the world beyond the castle.

‘It’s good
having some kids about,’ said Jim, slurping his mug of tea in the sunny
courtyard.

‘They don’t know
whether to eat their food or play with the dog,’ Paul told the others, watching
his kids on the grass with a broad grin. ‘I don’t know how to thank you,’ he
said, turning to them with tears in his eyes. ‘I thought we were going to die
out there.’ His tears rolled down and cut through the grime on his sunken
cheeks. Liv took his hand in hers.

‘There’s nothing
to thank us for mate,’ Will said gently, putting a hand on Paul’s shoulder.
‘You were the ones who made it this far.
You
found
us
. What’s it
been, a hundred miles? Two hundred?’ Paul nodded. ‘And you brought your kids
all the way here.’ Sylvia wiped away her own tears, and took Will’s hand and
thanked him.

‘How touching,’
Chris muttered up on the wall, handing his empty cup to Tabitha when she made
the rounds to collect. He turned his back on the scene. ‘I wonder what’ll
happen to all this happy families shit when we run out of food.’

‘They were
starving
,
Chris,’ said Tabitha, pouring the dregs of his tea over the wall. She wished
she could have thrown him over with them.

‘Well, they
might as well get used to the feeling,’ he replied. ‘We all should. Oh sorry, I
forgot. You’re already there. How’s that going for you, starving?’ Tabitha
clenched her jaw.

‘You know,
you’re one of the most vile people I’ve ever met,’ she replied.

‘I don’t give a
shit,’ he said bluntly. ‘I think it’s funny.’

‘I know what
your problem is,’ said Tabitha, studying his stare. ‘The world’s a scary place
now, so you’ve closed off to everyone in case you suffer any more.’

‘Or maybe I’m
just a cold heartless bastard,’ he said simply. ‘And now with the end of the
world and everything, maybe I’m just more of a cold heartless bastard. Now you
will let me know when you’re on death’s door, won’t you, so I can get the
champagne out?’

‘Isn’t there
anything human left in you?’ said Tabitha, trying to understand him.

‘No. What about
you? Is there anything human left in you?’ he glanced at her grey hands then,
and stared into her stark eyes. Looking down on the freak. Tabitha felt a rage
burn inside her, and cracked the cup to pieces in her hand. It was so tempting
to just hit him. She had to rise above it.

‘Oh nice, and
now we’re a cup down too,’ he said, looking at the broken pieces in her hand.
‘Good work, Anger Management.’

‘Piss off
Chris,’ said Tabitha, walking away. ‘Right out of the gate, if you wouldn’t
mind.’ She tried to avoid the others as she walked across the courtyard towards
the keep. Liv was coming over though. Tabitha quickly wiped her eyes on the
back of her wrists.

‘Tabitha? Are
y-you ok?’ said Liv, coming over to walk beside her. ‘I saw you talking to
Chris. That never ends well, for any of us,’ she said. Tabitha laughed a
little, sniffling.

‘What did he say
to you? I’ll kill him,’ said Liv.

‘No,’ Tabitha
said quietly. ‘It’s ok. It’s better just… left alone. It’s not worth a fight. I
don’t need any more reasons for him to hate me.’

‘Chris hates
e-everyone,’ Liv said soothingly, putting an arm around Tabitha’s shoulders as
they walked back towards the keep. ‘And don’t worry about Sylvia either. She’ll
have to get through me first. And you know Will and Jim are on your side.’

‘I know,’
Tabitha replied quietly, smiling.

‘Oh god, your
hand!’ said Liv, looking down at the broken cup between her fingers.

‘Yeah, I kind of
hoped you wouldn’t see that,’ Tabitha replied. ‘I got angry. Sorry about the
cup.’

‘Never mind the
bloody c-cup!’ said Liv, pulling Tabitha’s hand up to see. ‘Are you hurt?’

‘No, I’m fine,’
Tabitha said gently. ‘Weird metal hands and such.’

‘Come on,’ said
Liv, walking with her to the keep door. ‘As of n-now, Chris has a restraining
order on him. If he comes within f-fifty feet of you, I’ll officially beat the
crap out of him.’

‘Fifty feet? But
that’s like the far side of the castle,’ Tabitha chuckled.

‘Good,’ said Liv.
‘Best p-place for him. And as for you,’ she said, holding the keep door open
for her, ‘I order you to go and sit with Laika and the kids. Relax.’

‘But I should
probably –

‘Orders,’ Liv
cut in, fetching a carrier bag. ‘Now give us that b-broken cup, and I’ll bag it
up and chuck it over the wall.’

‘I think it was
Jim’s favourite though,’ said Tabitha, feeling bad.

‘Tabitha, it’s a
bloody
cup
. Now go and say hi to the kids, will you?’

Natalie brushed her blonde hair aside
and looked up at Tabitha cautiously as she walked over to them. She was sitting
with the twins in the garden, making a daisy chain with Grace. Robert was busy
inspecting an ant’s nest in the soil.

‘Do you mind if
I come and sit with you for a while?’ said Tabitha. Grace looked up warily at
her, and moved closer to her big sister. Natalie watched Tabitha and nodded
silently, rubbing her palms together nervously. The girl had a strange ghostly
quality about her, Tabitha thought. She looked grubby and tired, buried away in
a jumper and jeans; cold and pretty as winter.

‘We’ve not had
the best introduction, before,’ Tabitha began. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Me too,’
Natalie said quietly. ‘I think we got off on the wrong foot.’

‘Completely,’
Tabitha agreed, smiling. ‘It was all in self
defense
.
I promise.’ Natalie didn’t look completely convinced; Tabitha could tell. But
at least she was willing to hear her out. It’d take a little time, that was
all. She just needed an icebreaker. And she already had the best one around.

‘Laika,’ Tabitha
called across the garden. Her collie looked up from where she was resting, and
padded over to sit and smile beside her.

‘So, this is
Laika,’ said Tabitha. ‘I think you guys have already met.’

‘Is it your
dog?’ Robert asked her. Tabitha nodded with a smile.

‘Where did you
find him?’ said Grace, shaking Laika’s paw.

‘She’s a girl,’
Tabitha replied, stroking Laika’s head. ‘She was locked in a big building with
no one to look after her.’

‘Did you rescue
her?’ said Robert, sitting apart from them. He was still giving Tabitha some distance.

‘I suppose I
did,’ she replied, smiling.

‘Robert, come
closer,’ said Natalie, reaching out her hand towards him. ‘Tabitha’s our
friend.’ Tabitha had never seen such a haunted look in a little boy. In both of
them. They’d probably witnessed things that they never should have seen. Not so
young. Robert studied her and shuffled closer on the grass, and sat down next
to Laika and his twin sister. Right off the bat Laika came closer and licked
his face. Robert flinched and giggled, and he and his sister were suddenly busy
fussing over
Laika
again.

‘How old are
they?’ said Tabitha, watching them chatter to her dog.

‘Six,’ Natalie
replied, brushing the grass off Grace’s tattered dress. Laika loved the
attention from the twins. She looked regal and sleepy between them, sat there
in a calm flurry of stroking.

‘Why don’t you
take Laika and play on the grass?’ Natalie suggested.

‘Can we?’ said
Robert, looking to Tabitha.

‘Course you
can,’ she replied with a smile, pleasantly surprised to be asked her permission.

‘Come on Laika!’
said Robert, running off down the garden with the dog following behind. Grace
shouted and ran after them.

‘They turned six
just before all this happened,’ said Natalie, once the twins had run off down
the garden. ‘At least mum got to give them one last birthday party, before…’
Natalie rubbed her palms together hard, and burst into tears. Tabitha put her
arms around her. ‘Dad never wants to talk about it,’ Natalie sobbed. ‘And
Sylvia’s always saying I shouldn’t cry in front of the kids. Is it just me, or
is that really weird? We argue a lot about it. She’s always saying that I need
to be strong. How though? How are you supposed to just not cry when your
mum
dies?’

‘Of course you
need to cry,’ said Tabitha, holding Natalie close. ‘And you don’t need to
listen to Sylvia anyway. We’ve all got your back.’ Natalie smiled.

‘She must think
she’s our mum, since she took us in and helped us,’ Natalie said quietly. ‘And
don’t get me wrong, we’re glad she did. But… she’ll never be a mum to us. Our
mum died. I don’t want Sylvia trying to replace her.’

‘No, I wouldn’t
want that either,’ Tabitha replied. ‘I lost my mum too, when this happened.
There’s no way I’d let anyone replace her.’

‘What did you do?’
said Natalie, wiping away her tears with her cardigan sleeve.

‘Skinned the
bastard that did it, and stuck their body on the garden gate.’

‘Do you mean a
spider, or a person?’

‘A spider,’
Tabitha replied. ‘But yeah, I imagine there’s some people out there who are
just as bad.’

‘There are,’
said Natalie, with a haunted look. She wiped her eyes, and watched the kids
play.

That night the Ghosts slept on the floor
in the lounge and kitchen, while the newcomers got the beds upstairs.

‘Bloody beans,’
said Chris, farting loudly in the dark living room.

‘Jesus Christ,’
said Liv. ‘I’m t-trying to get some sleep, Chris. That’s disgusting.’

‘Well it’s not
my fault all we eat is b –

‘
Beans!
’
Jim yelled, sitting up. ‘Every day you’re moaning about them! Shut up about
the fucking beans!’

‘Jim, there are
k-kids upstairs,’ said Liv. Tabitha felt Laika wake up beside her.

‘Oh I don’t give
a shit,’ Jim growled. ‘They’ll be listening to me knock his teeth out if he
carries on, never mind swearing.’

‘Really, Jim? Is
that what you’re going to do?’ Chris said sarcastically.

‘Yeah it is, you
little prick!’ Jim shot back.

‘Guys,’ said
Will, trying to keep the peace.

‘Don’t fall
asleep,’ said Chris.

‘You what?’ said
Jim gruffly.

‘Don’t fall
asleep.’

‘Or what?’

‘Or you might
not wake up,’ Chris said quietly. ‘Lots of old men die in their sleep.’