The Perimeter (13 page)

He cast his mind back over the events of the day. He couldn’t believe how much had happened and how much all this had begun to change him as a person. He almost didn’t recognise the old Jamie. The fact he’d actually told two complete strangers his deepest darkest secret was crazy. They hadn’t even batted an eyelid. They were all like,
stay with us, we’ll give you food and shelter and everything will be great
.

Could this place really be all it seemed? Was he now safe from the outside? Could he finally stop worrying about where he would sleep and what he would find to eat and whether he would be attacked by raiders or soldiers or anyone else who fancied their chances? Jamie only hoped it wasn’t all too good to be true.

Chapter Fifteen

Liss

She had known they wouldn’t be able to stay at the farm for long – FJ would’ve come for them; that much was certain. It was heartbreaking to leave her beautiful family home for a second time, but after everything that had happened over the years, leaving the farm was a relatively small price to pay. At least she would still be with her parents, able to live a normal life. Whatever normal passed for these days.

Liss was sixteen – pretty much an adult. But at the age of seven she and her nine-year-old brother, FJ, had been abducted by James Grey’s men and taken to the Cathedral Close in Salisbury, the headquarters of Grey’s Church. That was where she’d first met Annabel. She’d taken the younger girl under her wing and, over the lonely months, they had become as close as sisters. But Liss and her brother had been separated and she hadn’t seen him again until nine years later.

For years she had lived under the austere rule of the church. Talking in hushed whispers and living half-lives with no purpose but to serve James Grey and his strict God. She and Annabelle had managed to resist being brainwashed like the others and had kept strong for each other in the hope they might one day escape.

Then, one day, their prayers had been answered and the girls were finally rescued from Salisbury. Liss’s parents, Fred and Jessie, had enlisted the help of Luc, Riley, Denzil and Connor. They had arrived at the Close one night to save her and FJ. Only they hadn’t realised that FJ had become part of the regime. He was now Grey’s right hand man, known as The Voice of the Father.

FJ had tried to prevent Liss and Annabelle from leaving The Close, but he had failed. Instead, Luc and the others had got Liss out of there and reunited her with her parents, while at the same time managing to take Grey and FJ hostage. It was a miracle really. She still couldn’t believe she was free. They later found out that, although Grey was still held captive at the Talbot Woods Perimeter, FJ had escaped.

After being rescued, she, Annabelle and her parents had returned to their farm, but they realised it would be too dangerous for them to stay there, as FJ and his men could come for them at any time. So her mum and dad had decided to move to the neighbouring compound. Part of her had wanted to remain in spite of the danger. It was crazy that her own brother should be the one to drive them from their home.

They had quickly settled into the compound. It was a relief to be in a protected environment with regular people. They had a sweet two-bedroom labourers’ cottage on the edge of the settlement which provided them with a long garden, meaning they’d been able to bring some livestock from the farm. Most of their animals had been used as payment for the cottage, but they still had two cows, two sheep, the chickens and a goat.

Despite the possible threat from FJ, they had travelled back and forth to the farm each day to harvest the rest of their crops. Liss’s mum wasn’t keen on this plan at all. If she’d had her way, she would’ve let all the produce rot, but her dad said that the harvest would set them up for the winter – they could sell what they couldn’t use and save the silver for when times got tough. They had to be self-sufficient or they’d struggle to survive in the coming years.

Today was to be the last day of the harvest. They would gather in the rest of the crops and close up the place for good. It was a sad day and Liss was eager for it to be over. She felt like she couldn’t move on with her life until they had said their final farewells to their family home. Although it was only a few miles from the compound, it may as well have been a hundred, because after today they had agreed to never go back.

The sun was sinking, throwing its golden light across the farm and Liss welcomed the cool of evening after their long day’s exertions. The land looked more beautiful than it had ever looked before – perhaps because she knew she would never see it again. Once they left, the fence would fall into disrepair and nature would swallow the place up. Or perhaps outsiders would claim the property for themselves. Either way, Liss knew she wouldn’t want to return to find out.

‘Let’s go back and check around the house one last time,’ Fred said, climbing into the jeep which they’d parked up at the edge of the field. ‘Make sure we haven’t left anything important behind. It’s later than I’d like. Gonna have to drive back in the dark. Has everyone got their weapons?’

Fred had been training Liss and Annabelle to use a shotgun and they’d both gotten pretty good in the last few weeks, especially Annabelle, who seemed to have a knack for it. They joined Fred in the jeep, squeezing in beside him. He started it up and they trundled back across the fields to the house.

The building looked sad and Liss felt a welling of emotion. Back in Salisbury, she had dreamt of this place almost every day. It was the place of her heart. Dad pushed the scullery door open. They had never used the smart, wooden front door; only the faded and peeling back door, which stuck in the doorframe and always needed a firm push or two. They tramped through into the kitchen, wiping their feet from force of habit.

The place was bare now and already had the faint scent of desertion. They had taken most of their furniture with them to their new house. The rest had been sold at the compound market, fetching fantastic prices.

‘Okay,’ Jessie said, ‘let’s all have a last scout round the house. Make sure we haven’t forgotten anything vital.’ Liss heard the crack in her mum’s voice.

Fifteen minutes later, Liss tramped back down the stairs and into the kitchen where she joined the others. After a final check of the rambling farmhouse, none of them had found anything of worth, but it had been good to revisit her room one last time, to memorise the view from her bedroom window – across the yard and over the fields beyond.

The light was growing dim, the sun dipping behind the western hills. Dusk was almost upon them and the kitchen rapidly turned chilly.

‘What was that noise?’ Annabelle said. ‘Sounded like a man’s voice. ’

‘It’s the house, love,’ Jessie replied. ‘It makes all kinds of funny creaks and groans. Bit like my knees.’

‘Hang on, Jess,’ Fred said. ‘That wasn’t the house.’

Liss strained her ears to see if she could hear anything.

‘We should’ve brought the dogs with us,’ Jessie said. ‘They’d soon let us know if anyone was . . .’

 Without warning, the door flew open with a loud bang and the room swiftly filled with men. And not just any men – for they wore the hooded robes of Grey’s Church. They were soldiers.
His
soldiers. Liss gave a short scream. Fred shouted and tried to reach for his shotgun, which lay against the wall, but they were overpowered before any of them could make a break for it or try to defend themselves. The men seemed to fill up the whole room, bringing with them the familiar
odour
of old classrooms and musty clothes, transporting Liss right back to the Cathedral Close. That smell made her almost swoon with fear. Reams of buried memories rising to the surface: the silence, the oppression, the fear and the complete absence of hope.

These intruders had somehow gotten onto their land, past the fence and through the back door. Liss’s mum had been right – they should have left the harvest to wither and rot. They should have never come back. And now it was too late.

‘What are you doing in our house?’ Liss’s dad was furious. ‘This is private property. You’re trespassing.’

‘This land belongs to the church now,’ one of the soldiers replied. Their faces were all concealed behind overhanging hoods, giving them the illusion of being ethereal beings. But Liss knew they were very real flesh and blood men. She wanted to struggle against her captor who had hold of her arm, but she was paralysed by fear, locking eyes with Annabelle, who looked more defeated than scared.

‘We were sent by The Voice of the Father,’ the soldier said. ‘You are to surrender your house and lands and come willingly to serve him.’

‘And if we refuse?’ Liss’s dad asked.

‘If you refuse you will be taken anyway, or put to the sword as heretics.’

‘Where is he?’ Liss’s mum sobbed. ‘Where’s my son? Where’s FJ? He’s not the Voice of anything, he’s my boy. If I could talk to him, make him remember who he really is . . .’

‘Quiet,’ the soldier said, shoving her in front of him.

‘Leave her alone,’ Liss’s dad said. ‘Don’t push my wife like that.’ He made a grab for the soldier who had hold of Jessie. Liss watched in horror as the soldier reached back and side-swiped her dad across the face, knocking him to the floor. His head cracked hard on the tiles. Liss gave a short scream, but the soldiers did nothing. They left her dad on the floor and tried to bundle the three of them out through the door.

‘Dad!’ she yelled. ‘Dad, are you alright?’ But he lay unmoving. Liss gave a sob. What if he was dead? She, Annabelle and her mum were shoved out through the back door, which now hung grotesquely off one hinge, like a half-pulled tooth. Outside, dusk was already dissolving into night.

‘Let them go.’

Liss turned her head. Standing in the doorway was her dad, pointing his shotgun at them. Alive, if a little woozy looking.

‘Put it down,’ one of the soldiers said to him. ‘Or you’ll all die.’

‘Better that than to go with you,’ her dad replied. ‘Let go of them or I’ll start shooting and I don’t think FJ would want that.’

No one did or said anything for a moment, and then the guards finally released their grip.

‘Run!’ her dad yelled at them. ‘Run! Now! I’ll hold them off. You know where to go!’

Liss turned and fled toward the darkness of the fields. She felt Annabelle beside her; felt her hand slip into her own. Where was her mum? Should she stop to check? But Annabelle was pulling her onwards, the thump of their footfalls and their ragged breaths loud in her ears. Scuffles and shouts from behind. Then a gunshot filled up the night, ringing through the blackness and instilling a wild terror in her heart.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw her mum coming towards them out of the darkness. Thank goodness. But no – her mum’s face registered shock. She stumbled and fell down onto her knees. Liss stopped dead, letting go of Annabelle’s hand.

‘Mum!’ she screamed.

‘Keep going, don’t stop,’ her mum cried. ‘Annabelle, make Lissy go with you.’

‘Come on, Liss,’ Annabelle hissed. ‘We have to keep moving.’

‘No! Mum!’

‘Please,’ her mum said. ‘I want you to go. Don’t break my heart, Lissy.’

Her mum’s eyes closed and she collapsed onto her side.

‘No!’ Liss moaned. But another shot tore through the air. She felt Annabelle’s hands on her arm and on her back. She tried to shake her off.

‘Come on,’ the younger girl said.

‘I can’t leave my parents. ’

Annabelle tugged at Liss’s arm. ‘You have to.’

‘No,’ Liss’s voice rose to a shrill screech.

‘Please,’ Annabelle said. ‘I can’t go back to The Close. I can’t.’

‘I can’t leave mum and dad.’

‘FJ will kill us if we go back now. Your parents want you to escape. They both told us to run. Do it for them.’

Liss shook her head, but she let Annabelle lead her away across the fields. She ran as if in a dream, tears streaming down her cheeks. They squeezed through a high hedge and then ran some more until their lungs felt fit to burst. They heard the soldiers’ cries and footfalls in the distance, but it was night and the dim lights of the robed men’s torches were ineffective in the vast darkness. No further shots were fired. Perhaps her brother didn’t want her and Annabelle harmed, despite what the soldiers had said.

But what about her mum and dad? Were they dead already? Had the guards found her mum’s body lying in the grass? Had her father escaped? All these thoughts tore her up as they staggered through the black night. Should she go back for her parents? But what good would it do? She had to protect Annabelle now. They would hide and then they would rescue her parents when they had a plan. She would kill FJ if she had to. He was no longer her brother. Grey had fashioned him into an unrecognisable monster.