The Perimeter (28 page)

‘But we’ll be trapped,’ I cried.

‘Your Pa said it was vital everyone goes down there. Lock yourselves in. Okay?’

I nodded, even though I was far from certain this was the best thing to do. ‘What about Liss and Annabelle?’ I asked.

‘Take them with you. I’ve got to get back now.’

‘Will you and Johnny be coming down with us?’ Ma asked, grabbing her brother’s sleeve.

‘Johnny and the rest of us will come later. We’re still needed at the wall, trying to hold them off. Praying for a miracle.’

I stepped forward and gave him a hug. ‘Be careful, Uncle Tom.’

‘Please stay safe,’ Ma said, squeezing his hand briefly.

He gave us a grim smile, turned and slid back into the vehicle.

I ran back to the house, took the stairs two at a time and grabbed my rucksack from the bedroom.

‘Hurry, Riley,’ Ma called from downstairs.

Part of me wanted to lie on my bed and savour the last few moments I might have left in my home. But I couldn’t afford to be sentimental now. Every second counted.

Chapter Thirty Three

Luc and I divided up the perimeter between us, visiting the crèche and then going to each road, delegating people to go door-to-door to let their neighbours know what was happening. I was met with panicked faces, tears and reluctance, but I told them there was no option. Anyone found at home was told to pack an emergency bag and come to my house, as access to Pa’s underground stores was via our basement.

In less than an hour, the stores were rammed with children, the elderly and the sick. Basically anyone who wasn’t fighting or stationed around the fence. It was grim down here, with its stone walls and floors, lack of heating and the harsh buzz of the strip-lights on the ceiling. Crying babies and sickly moans added to the fear permeating the cramped spaces. The rooms weren’t small but they were already packed with provisions, leaving little room for this many people. I thought Pa had made a massive mistake sending us down here. No way could we remain in such awful conditions for more than a day or two. The air was already tinged with the faint aroma of decay, fear and sickness.

Ma was doing her bit in the largest of the rooms. She had most of the kids ranged around her and was reading them stories. Trying to keep their minds off what was happening.

The stores were laid out as a snaking corridor with various rooms off of it. The whole area was much larger than our house and extended a long way out, beneath our back garden. I was at the back of one of the first rooms, trying to stack some boxes to make more floor space, when Luc arrived with Liss and Annabelle. I saw him scanning the crowded space and I waved to catch his attention. The girls didn’t look much better than they had when I’d last seen them. If anything, they looked worse. Scrawny, pale and afraid. But Liss managed a thin smiled when she saw me. I waved again and beckoned them over.

‘Are you okay?’ I asked.

‘Luc said my brother’s here,’ Liss replied, eyes narrowed in a mixture of fear and anger.

I nodded. ‘Liss, can you think of anything that would make him stand down?’ I asked. ‘Anything at all.’

‘Only Grey,’ she said. ‘And he’s dead.’

‘What are we going to do, Luc?’ I asked. ‘We can’t stay down here and hide.’

Luc smiled at Liss and Annabelle. ‘Can you wait here?’ he asked them. ‘There’s something I have to do.’

They nodded.

‘Riley.’ Luc tilted his head in the direction of the door.

I picked up my coat, gun and rucksack and followed him back through the crowd of bodies until we reached the corridor where the air was a little less thick.

‘What’s happening up top?’ I asked. ‘Do you know if Pa’s okay? Your mum? Denzil?’

‘I saw them. They’re fine. We’re managing to keep FJ’s men back for now. But I don’t know for how much longer. There’s too many of them. I don’t know what’ll happen when we run out of ammo.’

‘We have to hope they run out first,’ I said. ‘How are
you
?’

‘Me?’ Luc said. ‘I’m taking one minute at a time and not thinking about anything else.’

I nodded. He’d just lost his father, but he was still worrying about everyone else. I wished we had some time so I could take care of him.

‘Your Pa told me to get you out of here,’ he said.

‘Good,’ I said. ‘Does he need me at the fence?’

Luc took my hands and made me look at him.

‘What?’ I said.

‘He wants us to leave the perimeter and go to your grandparents’ place in Uley. I’ve got a motorcycle ready. We need to leave now.’

His words didn’t make any sense. ‘Leave?’ I said. ‘No, Pa told me we had to wait down here.’

‘No, Riley. He needed us to get everyone down here to safety, but now we’ve done that, he wants us to leave. He made me promise.’

‘But we can’t leave everyone. What about Ma? What about your mum? Denzil? The people down here?’

‘Your dad thinks they’ll all be okay. They’re safe down here and anyway, FJ’s argument is with us and with the guards.’

‘If I’m going, then we should all leave,’ I said. ‘Pile everyone into trucks and get out.’

‘No, Riley. They’ll see us escaping.’

‘Copters then . . .’

‘Too dangerous. They’ll shoot us down. And there are too many of us.’

‘So how are
we
supposed to get out then?’

‘There’s another way,’ Luc replied.

‘What way?’

‘Your dad told me. Come on.’

Luc led me along the corridor, past a group of elderly men who were leaning against the wall, chatting in earnest. The strip light buzzing and flickering above their heads. One of them, Joe Farley, tipped his hat at us.

‘Are you alright?’ Luc asked them. ‘Do you need me to find you a place to sit in one of the rooms?

‘We’re fine, lad,’ Joe replied. ‘Just needed some space away from the hordes.’

‘We can’t leave these people down here,’ I said as we carried on walking. ‘There’s not enough room for everyone.’

‘Trust me,’ Luc replied. They won’t have to stay here for long.’

‘Where are we going?’ I asked. ‘There’s nothing down this way.’ As we left the main part of the corridor, we also left the light behind. There was hardly any illumination now. We rounded a bend and Luc flicked on a torch.

‘Your Pa told me something interesting,’ he said.

I waited for him to continue.

‘You know the steel door right at the far end of the corridor?’ he said.

I nodded. I knew it well. Behind that door was the place where Pa stored his most valuable things – silver, whisky and other stuff I knew nothing about. No one was allowed in there. Not me. Not Ma. Not anyone, as far as I knew.

‘Well I’ve got the key,’ Luc said.

I stopped walking and stared at Luc. ‘How did you . . .’

‘. . . Your dad gave it to me.’

‘Pa gave you the key? What for? Do we need to get some stuff out of there?’

‘There is no stuff,’ Luc said.

‘But . . .’

‘Behind that door is an escape route,’ he said.

The thought of another way out of the perimeter just blew my mind.

‘Where does it lead? Who else knows about it?’

‘No one else knows. Your Pa said he never told anyone about it. Not even your mum. But you won’t believe where it goes.’

‘Where?’

We had finally reached the end of the corridor. A circle of torchlight flickered on the dull steel door.

 ‘Apparently,’ Luc said, ‘it leads to an abandoned underground pumping station outside the Charminster Compound.’

‘Oh my God! All the way over there? That’s miles away.’ I looked at the steel door with a new respect. I’d spent my life wondering what lay behind it. But now that I finally knew, I couldn’t even enjoy the drama of Luc’s revelation. Too much was happening too fast.

‘I know what you’re thinking, Riley.’

‘What?’ I said. ‘What am I thinking?’

‘You’re thinking that it’s wrong to leave.’

‘Yeah. Well it is.’ How could I even think about leaving everyone here, while I snuck off like a coward.

‘But I promised your Pa we’d go. So please do this for him and for me. My dad was killed today. Do you think I want to run off and hide? Don’t you think I want to go out there and kill FJ with my bare hands?’

I bit my lip.

‘I’m taking you to safety, Riley. And then, I’m coming back to help.’ He turned and looked behind us, making sure no one could see. Then he slid the bolts back on the door, took a bunch of keys from his coat pocket and fitted a thick brass one into the lock. He turned it and then put a Yale key into the lock above. Once the door was unlocked, he pushed down the handle and pulled hard.

The door swung open and Luc held out the torch, pointing into the gloom. In front of us lay a wide, dank, concrete tunnel and at its entrance sat a motorbike. All shiny chrome and dark, metallic green, looking like it had just rolled off the factory floor. Luc gave a low whistle.

‘That’s a nice machine,’ he said. ‘Looks like your dad kept it in mint condition. You got everything you need with you?’ he asked.

I nodded. ‘Are we riding this thing all the way to Uley?’

‘No, just to the 'pound. Your Pa told us to go to a lockup at 38 Lowther Road. Inside is a van with weapons and supplies. We’ll travel in that. We can stick the bike in the back if there’s room.’

‘Have you got the keys?’ I asked.

Luc took the bunch of keys from the door and jangled them.

‘Okay,’ I said.

‘Good. Let’s go.’

‘Luc,’ I said, ‘does Ma know the plan? Does she know where we’re going?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Could you . . . Would you mind telling her for me. I don’t want her to worry and I don’t think I can tell her myself. She’ll get upset and . . .’

‘Sure,’ he said.

I held out my hand for the keys. ‘I’ll wait here for you.’

‘Okay, I won’t be long.’ Luc dropped the keys into my palm and shrugged off his backpack, dropping it onto the stone floor. He leant in to give me a quick kiss, but I pulled him toward me and kissed him hard. He responded, pushing me back against the wall. The torch clattered to the floor as Luc ran his hands down my body. Shocked by the force of his passion, it sent me into freefall. Chills running through every cell. The rest of the world was obliterated for those few seconds.

‘God, Riley,’ he murmured. ‘What are you doing to me?’

I smiled as he drew back. He bent and retrieved the torch from the floor, putting it in my hand.

‘Back in a minute,’ he said, kissing me once more. Then he turned and jogged away.

Once Luc was out of sight, I opened my rucksack and rummaged for a paper and pencil, scrawling a hurried note and leaving it on the floor in the hope he’d find it. Then I found the bike key and slotted it into the ignition. My heart thumped as I pulled on my gloves and woollen hat, and swung my Saiga and my rucksack onto my back. I closed the door behind me and swung my leg over the machine.

‘Sorry, Luc.’ I whispered the words into the darkness as I turned the key, put the bike in neutral and flipped down the kill switch. As I pulled the clutch and pressed the starter button, the engine roar immediately filled the narrow space. I had to get out of here. Luc would have heard the noise, I was sure of it. I located the headlight and stuffed the torch into my backpack. I kicked up the bike stand, my blood pumping through my veins like rapids over rocks. It had been a while since I’d ridden a motorcycle, but I was so fired up on adrenalin, I reckoned I’d be able to fly a spaceship today.

Slowly at first and then faster as I built up confidence, I cruised along the tunnel. I felt terrible, misleading Luc, but he would never have let me do this and there was no way I was running away to my grandparents when everyone else was in danger. A plan had been formulating in my head and I knew I had to give it a go.