*I have to stay," I told her. *I have to find Nan."
*Then I"ll stay too," Ameena said. *But the rest of you should go."
Billy nodded. *No complaints from me."
*We"ll send help," Rosie added. *When we get to the town."
*Right. Good," Ameena said, nodding her head. *Oh, and a" just so we"re absolutely clear a" we"re keeping the KitKats."
*Fair enough," replied Billy. *Now all we have to do is find a car."
*There"s a little car park out the back," Ameena told him. *There"s usually a cop car there."
*How do you know that?"
Ameena glanced at me, then back to Billy. *Long story."
*So, is it decided then?" I asked. *Me and Ameena will stay. Billy a" you, Rosie and Guggs will try to get out of the village. Rosie, stick with Billy. He"ll look after you. Probably."
*And watch out for Huggs," Ameena added. *He"s a groper."
*I"d better go get him," Billy said. He sounded reluctant. It was clear that he disliked his cousin almost as much as everyone else did. He started to walk towards the door, but it opened before he was halfway there. Guggs strode through it, sounding out of breath.
*Billy," he said, hurrying over to the front doors. He looked through the gla.s.s at the street outside. *Check it out."
Billy joined him at the window. Curiosity got the better of me and I followed on behind. Ameena and Rosie came over too, and soon we were all lined up, peering out through the gla.s.s.
In the time since we"d come back to the police station, the daylight had begun to fade. What was left of it reflected off the snow, making the ground look like it was faintly glowing.
*What am I looking at?" Billy asked.
*Wait for it," Guggs muttered. He was looking along the street, to where the corner of a neighbouring building blocked the rest of the road from view. *The fog"s lifted. You can see the whole street from the roof," he explained. *I was looking that way whena" There, look!"
Billy made a sound that was halfway between a sob and a cheer. He stared a" we all did a" as a little girl in pink pyjamas trudged determinedly through the snow.
*Lily," he whispered. *It"s her. It"s Lily. She"s still alive!"
illy banged his fists against the door. *Lily!" he cried. *Lily, over here!"
Outside, his sister did nothing to indicate she had heard him. Billy scrambled for the key that would unlock the doors. He"d just got a hand to it when Guggs grabbed him and pulled him back.
*What are you doing?" Guggs demanded. *Have you gone nuts?"
Billy shook his head. *It"s Lily, Guggs. It"s Lily, she"s all right!"
*You don"t know that," his cousin spat. *For all we know she"s one of them."
*No, she isn"t. She"s... she"s just Lily!" Billy grabbed for the key a second time. *I have to get her. I"m not leaving her again."
Guggs caught him by the arms and held on to him. *It"s too late," he snarled. *It"s too dangerous. You"re not going out there. No one"s going out there."
Click. Rosie turned the key in the lock. *She"s... um... she"s his sister," she said, too scared to meet Guggs" glare. *It, uh, it should be his decision."
Ameena nudged me in the ribs. *D"you know," she said, loudly enough for everyone to hear, *I"m really starting to warm to that girl?"
Billy lunged for the door, but this time it was me who stopped him. *Hold on," I warned him. *I hate to say it, but Guggs is right. It"s dangerous out there."
Yanking his arm away, Billy looked at me in horror. *I"m not leaving her alone. Not again."
*Of course not," I said. *But let"s be careful. I"ll come and watch your back."
*And I"ll come and watch yours," Ameena told me.
Rosie moved closer to me. *I"m not staying in here with him," she said, glancing briefly at Guggs.
*You"ll be safer in here," I said.
*It"s fine," said Ameena, *I"ll watch her."
*Right. OK. Is that it? Can I go and get my sister now?" Billy snapped.
I gave a nod and he swung the door open. The snow crunched beneath our feet as we stepped on to the pavement.
*Hang back here," I whispered to Ameena. *Keep your eyes open."
*Roger that," she nodded. Keeping Rosie beside her, she took up position just outside the door and began scanning for danger.
Lily was still trudging slowly along the street. The snow was almost to her waist, and we could see a long, straight trench showing the route she had walked to get here.
*Don"t shout to her," I warned, stopping Billy just as he opened his mouth. *You"ll attract attention. Let"s just go and get her."
Billy didn"t wait to be told twice. He hurried forwards, stumbling through the blanket of white on the ground. I stuck close behind him, keeping one eye on Lily, and one on the streets around us. The mist had mostly lifted, but now the darkening sky made it difficult to see.
We closed the gap between the station and Lily in less than twenty seconds. Billy slowed when we got close to her. She was walking away from the station now, and we"d approached her from behind.
Softly, Billy cleared his throat and spoke her name. *Lily?"
The girl in the pink pyjamas stopped.
*Lily," he said again. *It"s me. It"s Billy. It"s... it"s Bro-Bro."
There was no reaction from his sister. I looked at her frail back, covered only by a thin pyjama top. She was half-buried in snow. Presumably her feet were bare. And yet, she wasn"t shivering.
*Billy, wait," I said, as he reached a hand out towards her. There was no stopping him, though. His big hand clamped down on her narrow shoulder, and at that, she turned around.
Her eyes were like two black holes in her face. Her little head twitched like a bird"s as she looked from Billy to me and back again.
*Aw, no," Billy croaked. His hand was still on Lily"s shoulder. I pulled him back, putting some distance between them. *Aw, no, not Lily," he whimpered. *Not her."
Lily"s bottom jaw dropped open. Clouds of white breath rolled from her mouth as she threw back her head and let out an ear-splitting cry. All around us, other voices screeched in reply.
*Kyle!" Ameena"s shout was high-pitched with panic. I whipped around and saw dozens of figures come running from the darkness on all sides, crashing and hurdling through the snow towards us.
*Inside!" I bellowed, already dragging Billy back towards the station. *Get inside, now!"
Ameena shoved the door. From fifteen metres away, I heard her gasp. *Locked it. He"s locked it!" She hammered her clenched fists against the gla.s.s. *Open the door," she screamed. *Open the d.a.m.n door!"
Billy and I reached the door at the same time. Guggs stood beyond the gla.s.s, grinning out at us. Behind us, the screechers closed the gap. Lily hadn"t moved, but the others were now only twenty or thirty seconds away.
*Guggs, open the door!" I said. *Come on!"
*What, so you and your infected girlfriend can get back in? Not likely."
He saw the surprise on my face. *I heard you when you were in the corridor," he said. He pointed at Ameena, right between the eyes. *You got bit."
*They"re getting closer," Rosie wailed.
*Come on, cuz, open up," Billy begged. *Please."
*Self-preservation, Bill," Guggs shrugged. *I told you not to go outside."
Rosie grabbed me by the sleeve. *They"re coming!"
*Smash the gla.s.s!" Billy yelped.
*What"s the point? Then they can follow us in," Ameena said.
I was about to try to reason with Guggs again, when I saw something move in the doorway behind him. *Billy," I said quietly. *When you got here, you checked all the rooms, right?"
*Most of them, yeah. Why?"
*Most of them?"
The shape in the doorway became a man. He wore a police uniform and his eyes were as black as coal.
*Guggs, look out!" I warned, but the screecher was too fast. He bounded across the room in three big leaps. I saw his jaw unhinge, heard Guggs scream, and then a spray of dark blood covered the gla.s.s.
Screams of rage were suddenly all around us. I turned, just as a screecher launched herself towards me. Twisting and ducking, I got out of her path. She hit the gla.s.s with a hollow thonk, landed on all fours, then turned to face me once again.
*Split up," I yelped, as more of the screechers reached us. *Meet at the Keller House," I added, remembering the wooden boards nailed across most of the house"s windows and doors. *Rosie, go with Billy!"
I dodged another screecher, avoided his grip, escaped the gnashing of his terrible teeth. I saw another one throw itself at Ameena. Her boot connected with his chin, snapping his head back. She moved to follow me, but more of the infected blocked her path.
*Go," she barked. *The Keller House. I"ll be there."
The snow was churning up around us, as more and more screechers arrived at the scene. The air was filled with their squeals and cries. It took everything I had not to collapse into tears.
*Promise?" I asked.
She nodded. *Promise."
Billy and Rosie were already running, screechers at their backs. *Come on, then!" I bellowed, waving my hands in the air. *Come and get me."
I turned tail and fled then, still shouting at the screechers, trying to draw them after me and away from Ameena. The plan worked better than I expected. Ten or more of them came after me, sprinting or bounding on all fours through the snow.
I ran along the street. Up ahead I spotted the church, with its heavy wooden doors. Immediately, I wished I"d told everyone to meet there instead of the Keller House. Still, it might prove handy yet.
The screechers were close behind me as I two-at-a-timed up the church steps. The D-shaped metal handles on the doors were freezing to the touch when I grabbed hold of them. I turned them both. The door on the left stayed closed, but the one on the right swung open.
Throwing myself inside, I rushed to slam the door shut behind me. But an arm made it through the gap before I could get it closed. I heard the damp crack of snapping bone and the screecher outside howled with rage.
The weight of the door became too much and I was sent stumbling backwards into the church. Screechers rushed in, but I was already heading for the swing doors that led from the foyer into the main bit of the church.
My footsteps clattered along the polished aisle. They echoed around me as I pa.s.sed beneath the towering statue of Jesus on the cross and barged my way through to the back rooms. More footsteps thudded through the church, faster and faster, gaining on me with every step.
I stumbled into a small, draughty hall. It stank of damp and of cold, like the attic at home. A door stood at the end of the hall, leading out to the graveyard at the back of the church. I raced towards it and found it unlocked. Shoving the door open, I hurried back outside. It closed with a bang just as the screechers entered the hall.
A second later, the first of them hurled itself against the door. The door shook in its frame, but it held fast. Sooner or later, though, it would give way. Either that, or they"d figure out how to use a door handle. Whatever, I couldn"t stand around there for long.
The graveyard was as still and silent as... well, as the grave. The snow had piled up in drifts around the crumbling headstones. I had to go slowly to avoid tripping up on the hidden slabs.
The screechers were still hammering on the door when I finally reached the back fence. I squeezed myself through the gap left by a missing bar and emerged on to Wilkinson Road. From here, I was only two streets and the hill away from my house. From my house, I was only a few dozen metres to the Keller House and, I hoped, to Ameena and the others.
The journey there was straightforward enough. I skirted along at the edges of the streets, in the shadows of garden fences and walls, until I reached my house. The police car was still out front, but its lights were off, the battery presumably having long since gone dead.
I couldn"t help but look in the window as I pa.s.sed my house. I don"t know what I hoped to see. Nan, maybe, sitting in her favourite chair. Or Mum, watching TV, like none of this stuff had ever actually happened.
But the armchair was empty. The room was empty. As I"d known it would be.
I cleared the fence between my garden and the Keller House"s. The house itself loomed before me, dark and foreboding. I did not like this house. I did not want to be near this house, but right now, it was probably the safest place for miles around. Even knowing that, though, I felt a shiver of fear pa.s.s through me as I made for the front door.
I"d used my abilities to tear the boards away earlier, but the door itself was still intact. It was standing open, just as we"d left it. That meant two things. It meant I"d got here before Ameena, Billy or Rosie. And it meant that anything could"ve found its way inside.
Steadying my nerves, I inched the door closed and the room was flooded with absolute blackness. I stayed by the doorway, my hand still on the handle, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the absence of light.
Unable to see, my other senses worked harder to compensate. That"s the only reason I heard it. The only reason that I heard the breathing.
It was close behind me, little more than a few centimetres away. I was about to open the door again and make a run for it, when a man"s voice sounded in the near-silence.
*Blimey," he said. *Isn"t it dark?"
battery-operated lamp flickered on, bathing the room in a stark white light. I blinked in the sudden glare.
*Oh, sorry," said the man standing across from me. *Probably should"ve warned you I was about to do that."
*Joseph," I said, surprised to see him here. Of all the things that had happened to me recently, Joseph was probably the most mysterious. He had cropped up in all kinds of places over the past few weeks a" dressed as a policeman in the police station on the day Mr Mumbles had returned, hiding behind the curtain in my school canteen, disguised as a ticket collector on a train I was on. He"d even left a message for me in the Darkest Corners, showing me how to find the cure I needed to get back home.
Although it hadn"t always been obvious, he"d been helping me the whole way through. But I still didn"t really know who he was.