Chase, page 27
And he’d already seen enough pain today.
Amy returned and seated herself in the passenger seat once again. The two of them sat in silence, gazing out into the blackness, lost in their own thoughts. It was Amy who finally broke the stillness.
‘She’s sleeping again,’ she murmured. ‘She was exhausted.’
David nodded, his eyes still scanning the gloom beyond. When he finally looked at her again she had slumped low in the chair.
‘Amy,’ he murmured and she looked at him.
He wanted to tell her that he feared there was more pain ahead of them. More suffering to come. But the words wouldn’t come. He couldn’t force them out. Instead, he slid down further in his seat, aware of the crushing weariness that was sweeping over him in unstoppable waves. This time, he didn’t fight it.
SEVENTY
The early morning sun was a pleasing sight both for the warmth with which it carpeted the ground but also for its golden rays that spread across the heavens and banished the last vestiges of night. Blue sky and white cloud replaced the mottled black and unsettled firmament of the previous night and with its light it also brought something else. Something that touched the soul as surely as the warmth touched the skin.
As David stepped from the RV he took several deep lungfuls of fresh air, enjoying the scents of the surrounding countryside. Birds were singing in the trees, heralding the daylight hours that had now spread completely across the sky. He blinked hard, closed the door gently behind him and set off down the narrow track, glancing around him to ensure that the RV was still indeed the only vehicle around. Behind him he could hear the distant sound of engines as other cars sped along the highway but they were so far away they were out of sight. David felt as if he was the only person on earth as he strode further away from the RV, glancing back at it every now and then.
When he was twenty yards away he concentrated on the area in front of him, picking his way across the uneven ground and past some bushes until he came to the area he sought. He could see that the earth was darker in places where it had been turned the previous night. Once he reached the darker dirt he snapped off several large pieces of bush which he then swept across the ground, disturbing the other dusty soil so that the darker patches were covered and camouflaged. He was still engaged in this particular task when he heard footsteps close behind him.
David spun round and saw that he had company.
The girl was standing about ten yards away, her dark hair blowing in the early morning breeze.
David looked at her for a moment, wondering why she had left the RV.
‘Is everything alright?’ he asked and, by way of an answer the girl merely smiled, nodded and hurried across to him.
‘Did Amy tell you to come out here?’ he wanted to know.
The girl shook her head and looked up at him.
Almost despite himself, David put one hand on her shoulder and she moved closer to him as they walked. There was something curiously calming about the scene, David thought and he felt a serenity he had not experienced for many months, certainly not since Daisy’s death. He glanced down at the girl. She was so similar to Daisy in build and appearance it was uncanny.
She could be your daughter.
David shook his head, dismissing the voice inside his head.
She could be but she isn’t is she? She’s not your daughter and she never will be. Your daughter is dead. As dead as those men you buried last night.
The girl moved away from him momentarily and picked up a long branch, waving it in front of her like a gnarled sword. She dashed ahead, towards the patches of dark earth that David now fixed his gaze upon. He sighed and noted that they didn’t appear as invisible as he’d first thought. He picked up a branch himself and began sweeping dust and stones over the shallow graves, attempting to further disguise their presence. If anyone passed this way he didn’t want their attention to be attracted by the hastily dug resting places. The girl watched him for a second then started to mimic him, kicking dry dirt onto the area where David was. He glanced at her, grateful for her help, wondering what thoughts were tumbling through her mind now. Memories of what she’d seen? Of the horrors she had witnessed the previous night? Or of further back? He could only imagine what had gone through her mind when she was locked in the boot of that police car, trapped there with two corpses.
She moved about looking untroubled now. Enjoying the warming sunlight as much as he was.
Who are you? David thought as he glanced at her.
He was still thinking that when he felt the ground move beneath his feet.
He turned, looking down to see that the dark earth was rising in a couple of places that looked like mole hills. Seconds later, a hand burst through, pushing the earth aside and reaching upwards towards the sun like a flower. But this flower was shaped like a bloodied hand, the soil and blood smeared digits twitching as more of the arm now appeared.
David took a step back, watching in terror as another hand burst through the thin blanket of dirt. It was followed by a face, the features contorted with fury and hatred. The face of the first man he’d buried the night before.
The corpse sat up, dirt dropping from its shoulders.
David stood motionless for a moment, rooted to the spot, paralysed by the sight of the body which was now rising slowly to its feet, its movements uneven and jerky. The girl too was looking at the figure but with barely any expression on her face. She watched it with the detached eye of an observer and nothing more.
‘Get back to the RV,’ David snapped but she stood still, gazing at the corpse which was still trying to get up. It was now on all fours, it’s head bowed.
As David watched, the girl bent and picked up a large rock, took two or three purposeful steps towards the crouching body and then slammed the rock down hard on its head twice. The impact sent it crashing back to the earth and the girl used the rock again, striking hard. The head burst like an overripe peach, thick gobs of brain spilling out onto the earth that was already becoming saturated with blood. She kept hitting the head despite the fact that the cranium was now gaping open, portions of splintered skull actually having fallen away to expose the jellied mass within. Finally the girl dropped the stone, her arms as high as the elbows drenched with reeking crimson fluid.
David felt his stomach contract but the girl merely looked at him and smiled.
Then she dug one hand into the greyish-red brain matter, gripped some of the slippery matter and raised it to her mouth. As he watched, she pushed some into her mouth, chewing it hungrily like a starving man who has just been unleashed on a banquet. There were lumps of the chewed brain falling from her mouth, thick dark blood dribbling down her chin as she looked at him.
It was then that he vomited.
SEVENTY-ONE
David sat up with a grunt, his head turning rapidly from side to side, his mind struggling to come to terms with the fact that he’d been dreaming. And dreaming so vividly. He could still see the residue of the images in his mind’s eye. The girl using the stone as a weapon, smashing the skull open. Eating the glistening, swollen contents. He let out another deep breath, anxious to drive the last vestiges of the nightmare from his mind. As he moved he could feel how stiff his clothes were. The material hardened by the congealed blood that covered it. He rubbed his face with both hands and looked around once more.
‘Are you all right?’ Amy wanted to know.
‘I think so,’ David told her. ‘Where is she?’ he asked, looking around.
Amy looked vaguely at him for a moment then gestured over her shoulder.
‘She’s still sleeping, why?’ she wanted to know.
‘I...I just wondered...I was having a nightmare and...’ The words faded away.
‘I know, I heard you,’ Amy told him. ‘What was it about?’
‘I can’t remember,’ he lied, his voice cracking.
Amy looked intently at him for a moment longer.
Only now did David glance out of the windscreen of the RV and he could see that the first traces of dawn were beginning to colour the heavens pink. He shivered and sat forward, suddenly aware of how cold it was inside the vehicle.
‘Did you sleep?’ he wanted to know.
‘For a few hours,’ Amy confessed. ‘I think I could have slept standing up I was so tired.’
‘Not really surprising is it?’
He reached out and squeezed her hand, holding it tightly as if he feared that she would pull away at any second.
‘We should move on,’ he decided, finally.
‘If we can.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Last night when we stopped, we never got fuel like we said we would.’
‘Oh Jesus, that’s right. Start it up. Let’s see how much we’ve got.’
Amy did as he instructed and the engine burst into life. They both cast worried looks towards the needle on the petrol gauge which rose a little way but not far enough. It signalled that the tank was less than a quarter full.
‘Enough to get us to Chase?’ Amy wondered.
‘I wish I knew,’ David murmured.
‘It’s another hundred miles. Do we risk it?’
‘We either push on or go back to that truck stop and fill up.’
They sat in silence for a moment, considering the options open to them.
‘If we move on we could make it,’ Amy said.
‘And if we run out of fuel before we get there we’re stranded.’
‘Do you want to go back?’
He shook his head. ‘No I don’t but what choice have we got? We need to get that headlight fixed too.’
‘We can make it to Chase before it’s dark again if we leave now.’
‘I hope you’re right.’
‘We should risk it,’ Amy insisted. ‘Push on. Get to Chase.’
‘If we can,’ David interrupted. ‘If they’re following us and we run out of petrol then it’s just a matter of time before they catch up. All we’d be able to do is sit and wait for them to get us.’
Another heavy silence descended, again broken by Amy.
‘They’ve caught up with us before,’ she said, flatly. ‘And we’re still here.’
David looked at her for a second then nodded.
‘There must be somewhere between here and Chase,’ he said, quietly. ‘Another truck stop. A diner. Something where we can fill up.’
‘Let’s find out.’
‘Are you all right to drive?’
Amy smiled at him by way of answer. ‘Why shouldn’t I be?’ she wanted to know.
‘I was just checking,’ he told her, softly.
‘So, we’re going on?’ she murmured.
Again David nodded.
‘You need to get cleaned up,’ Amy told him.
He hesitated a moment, watching as she turned the wheel and guided the RV back along the narrow track towards the highway. The sky was turning blue now, the luminescent panoply flecked with thick white clouds. It all seemed welcoming compared to the thick, menacing blackness the previous night. If David had been that way inclined he might even have thought that the day promised much. But he dare not think that way. Not yet.
As Amy sent the RV speeding back onto the highway he headed towards the rear of the vehicle, anxious to rid himself of the blood drenched clothes that were sticking to him.
There was a thin, cotton curtain between the shower area and the beds at the rear of the RV and David glanced through the curtain briefly before undressing. He could see that the girl was still fast asleep, tucked snugly in beneath the sheets and blankets. Satisfied that she was unlikely to awaken just yet, David hastily undressed and stepped into the shower, the streams of water splashing over him. He looked down to see the blood washing away down the plughole, swirling and twisting around the circular hole before it disappeared.
He wished he could wash memories away as easily.
SEVENTY-TWO
The sunlight was dazzling.
The traces of early morning mist had been burned away by the searing heat of the golden orb hanging in the cloudless blue sky. Amy put on her sunglasses as she drove, careful to shield her eyes from the bright rays. The countryside spread out around her, hillier and more heavily wooded than it had been during the earlier part of the journey. There also seemed to be more curves to the highway as it snaked through the brightly lit landscape. It was no longer just an endless stretch of perfectly straight tarmac but it seemed to Amy more like a blackened tongue now, lolling and turning through the greenery around it, lapping at the gently rising hills in places.
She guided the RV over a low bridge, glancing to one side to see the shallow stream beneath her. Despite what she’d seen and been through the night before, she began to feel as if the warming rays of the sun were actually having some kind of positive effect on her. She managed a smile. The arrival of a new day, she hoped, might bring the kind of joy that had been absent from their lives for too long now. As she looked up she caught sight of her own reflection in the rear-view mirror and her smile faded rapidly. Her skin looked pale. Her face wan. She tilted the mirror down slightly as if the fact that she couldn’t see herself would actually cause her appearance to improve.
She drove on, checking the wing mirrors for anything that might be following, glancing at each vehicle that approached from the other direction, fearful that any one of them might just veer across the lanes and smash into the RV. Fortunately there wasn’t much traffic on the road yet. Half a dozen cars and some trucks had passed going in the other direction but not much else. She knew there would be more as the day progressed but for now, she was happy with the relative solitude.
Almost unconsciously she glanced down at the petrol gauge.
The needle was just above the E.
Amy sucked in a worried breath. She had no idea how much further they would be able to drive before the fuel tank finally emptied completely. And then what?
She let out a sigh and drove on, slowing down slightly as if that simple action was going to use less fuel.
The road was turning again, a huge curve that cut through some low, wooded hills before straightening out across another bridge.
The road across the bridge was blocked. There was a white car and what looked like a black transit van stationary across the highway blocking both lanes. There were black marks on the tarmac behind the transit and Amy wondered if there had been an accident but it didn’t make her feel any less anxious. She pressed gently on the brake, her heart thumping faster now. There didn’t appear to be anyone near to the abandoned vehicles. The ground sloped away sharply beneath the bridge, down towards a wide but shallow river.
‘David,’ Amy called, her eyes fixed on the vehicles ahead.
He joined her almost immediately, standing behind the driver’s seat, his own attention now drawn to the transit and the white car. But it wasn’t just the abandoned vehicles he was looking at, it was the yellow tape that had been drawn across the bridge approach that caught his attention. The tape that displayed the words;
POLICE LINE; DO NOT CROSS
‘Stop here,’ David told her.
She brought the vehicle gently to a halt about two hundred yards from the blocked bridge, the engine idling.
‘I’d better have a look,’ he told her.
‘No, don’t go out there,’ Amy snapped. ‘We can get through. I can get the RV between the two of them if I’m careful. Don’t go out there. You don’t know who might be around.’
‘Like the police who put that tape across the road?’ he murmured.
‘It looks like an accident. You can see the tyre marks on the road. The white car looks as if it skidded.’
‘That’s what I thought but how can we be sure?’
David swallowed and scanned the scene before them once again.
‘I wonder where the police are?’
As they continued to gaze at the makeshift road-block, both of them heard footsteps behind them in the RV. The girl joined them, moving around David towards the passenger seat but Amy held out a hand to stop her.
‘Stay out of sight, sweetie,’ she said, softly.
The girl nodded and backed off, away from the RV’s cab and back into the vehicle, pausing beside the door. David reached for the shotgun and swung it up before him, working the slide to chamber a round.
‘Just in case,’ he murmured, licking his lips which were dry and beginning to stick together. ‘Good job I re-loaded.’
Amy eased her foot from the brake and the RV moved forward slowly, trundling towards the bridge and the vehicles that blocked it.
Like Amy had done before him, David now glanced to his right and left, checking for any signs of movement anywhere on or around the bridge. If this had been an accident then why were there no passengers around? If the white car had gone out of control and crashed into the transit then had anyone been injured? And if they had, where the hell were they now? Or, he wondered fleetingly, had the accident happened some time ago and the emergency services had already ferried any injured to a nearby hospital? Questions tumbled through his mind, each one unanswered and fuelled, with each passing second, by more paranoia.
If the accident had been staged just to stop them, he told himself, then it was an elaborate ruse. But, he thought as the RV crawled along, it had worked in as far as it had slowed them down. Set them up as targets?
He glanced around once more, tension growing within him.
‘Do you seen anyone?’ he wanted to know.
Amy shook her head, her attention fixed on the vehicles ahead. She could see a small gap between the front bumper of one and the rear of the other and she was sure that she could nudge the RV through that gap when the time came.
‘Be careful,’ David said, quietly, touching her on the shoulder with one hand, his eyes never leaving the road. The other hand gripped the shotgun tightly. His fingers curled around the pistol grip, he could feel the sweat forming on his palm. He tried to control his own increasingly laboured breathing.
