Blemished, The (18 page)

W
e reached the hall before I heard her. Hurried footsteps shuffled on the landing above us – bare feet padded on floor boards. Daniel’s bag caught on another vase. It hurtled to the floor. Roses scattered on the carpet.

“Leave the bag!” I whispered urgently.

“Who’s there,” Mrs Murgatroyd shouted from above. Her voice was shaky.

Daniel tripped over a telephone table. I pulled him back on his feet as we dashed through bathroom door. I knocked over tubs of moisturiser on a shelf by the bath and scrambled to the window. Behind us Mrs Murgatroyd’s feet pounded the stairs.

“Stop, thieves!” she yelled. “I’ll let the guard dogs out.”

“Get out of the window and run,” Daniel instructed.

He took my waist in his hands and hoisted me up. I was pushed through the gap with barely enough time to gain my balance to land. I waited to hear the sound of Daniel lifting himself up before I moved. Then a dog barked and my throat went dry. I turned to see two huge black Dobermans bounding around the corner of the house. Daniel landed next to me.

“Run!” he shouted.

We ran down the grassy bank of the garden with the dogs chasing us. They barked and growled but their pace never faltered. Daniel tripped, landing badly on his ankle. Behind us the dogs gnashed their teeth. I held Daniel’s hand in mine, willing him to move faster. But the trip had hurt him. He limped.

There wasn’t enough time to curve around the lawn to the font gates. The only chance we had was getting over the wall but it was at least six feet and solid stone. Luckily I saw the large oak tree growing close to the wall. Next to it were thick vines of ivy. We could climb the vines with the help of the low branches of the tree and make it out of the perimeter.

I glanced behind me. The dogs were gaining on us. I smelled the saliva of their open mouths, waiting for a chance to sink their teeth into our flesh.

“Hurry, Daniel,” I said urgently.

Paws thudded against the lawn, just inches from us. I felt the claws of a dog dig into my calves and struggled to maintain my balance. The tree was just feet away but I still had to get Daniel over the wall.”

“Leave me,” he gasped.

“Not a chance,” I replied.

With a determination I didn’t even know existed I turned and kicked my pursuer squarely in the head. It fell into the other dog giving us a few valuable seconds. I cupped my hands and motioned to Daniel to get up the wall. Grudgingly he placed his foot in my hands and flinched as he pushed upwards, grabbing a branch and awkwardly swinging h
is body onto the wall. I grasped hold of the ivy to climb after him but it was brittle and failed to support my weight. The dogs, now fully recovered, began to approach slowly, waiting for their prey.

“Take my hand,” Daniel called from above.

“I can’t reach.” I jumped, trying to clutch Daniel’s fingers but just as we touched Daniel lost his balance and fell backwards onto the other side of the perimeter. “Daniel!”

I was alone. The dogs snapped their jaws and growled ferociously and my heart hammered against my rib cage. With my fingers behind my back I tried to feel along the vines, thinking of ways to lift myself up, but it was no used and I knew it. My breath came out ragged and panicked and I considered giving in and heading back to the house to beg for mercy. I looked up, as though trying to gain inspiration from the sky and saw the branch just feet away.

All I had to do was jump and grab hold of it. The dogs kept on approaching, foam and drool spilling from their mouths. I took a deep breath and leapt as high as I could with my arms stretching so hard my muscles hurt. A feeling of pure joy and exhilaration washed over me as my fingers looped around the gnarly bark. The Doberman caught my ankle and I cried out in pain. His teeth sank into my flesh, pulling me back down towards the ground. My grip loosened. The dog pulled me down centimetre by centimetre.

But I wasn’t ready to give up yet. With as much strength as I could muster I kicked the dog hard with my good leg. The mutt yelped. It released my ankle and I clambered onto the branch, grateful for it holding my weight. It gave me just enough leverage to get over the wall where Daniel helped me down. My ankle stung from the bite and my jeans were wet with blood but it wasn’t broken as I could put weight on it.

“The gate,” I said between breaths, “we need to shut it or the dogs will come straight through and chase us.”

“Can you do it from here?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t know,” I said.

The truth was that I didn’t feel strong enough. Opening the window had taken a lot of concentration.

“I don’t think I can try,” I said after a pause. “I might collapse like in the Slums.”

“Okay, we’ll run round and shut it ourselves,” he said.

Rain fell. The ground loosened, making it easier to slip. I struggled to run with my ankle, searing pain running up my leg with every step. My body wanted to stop so badly that I almost gave in, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t let Daniel get hurt. They would punish him worse than me because he was a boy with a father who died for almost exactly the same crime. I had to make sure he was safe.

When we got to the gate the dogs were already on their way, their paws beating the ground. One of them with a bloody nose.

“Quick!” I said to Daniel.

We both grabbed hold of the wrought iron bars of the gate. It was heavy and dragged along the gravel. With our injuries and tired bodies we struggled to move it whilst the two Dobermans approached, growling. I leaned back, ignoring the screaming
pain in my ankle, putting all of my weight into it. The gate inched closer. The dogs leapt towards us.

“Pull!” Daniel yelled.

With every part of me I pulled the gate, using up the last iota of energy I had. The gate almost closed, catching the head and shoulders of one of the dogs in its grip. Daniel kicked at it and the dog snatched at his foot with its jaws. I hurried to his side, pulling him back from the dog and trying to force it back onto the other side of the gate. Daniel cried out in pain and I kicked the dog back again. It yelped and finally relinquished. The dog wriggled back from the gate and with one last pull I slammed it shut.

“Are you all right?” I asked. Daniel had his hand over his ankle and I couldn’t see if there was any bleeding.

“It hurts but I think I’m okay,” he replied.

The rain pelted us and I had to move wet strands of hair from my eyes. Sirens sounded in the distance.

“We need to get out of here,” Daniel said grimly. “Can you run?”

“Barely,” I answered.

He paused for a second. “I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“This is all my fault.”

The sirens were getting louder and I had to snap Daniel out of it. “I made my own decision, Daniel.”

“Run,” he said. “Run in that direction. I will be right behind you.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I am not falling for that. I’m not letting you be the martyr. If I go you’re coming with me.”

“You have a chance––”

“We
both
have a chance but the longer we stand here arguing about it the less chance we have.” I took hold of his hand and dragged him away from the gate. “If you don’t come with me I’ll stay with you and there is nothing you can do about it.” 

W
e limped into the darkness. The wails of the approaching Enforcers droned on in the distance. Sirens were an unfamiliar sound. In the Slums and the ghettos the Enforcers dealt with crime quickly and quietly. But in the GEM neighbourhood they made as much noise as possible. Crime was rare, but when it did happen they wanted to create drama.

Lights turned on. Sleeping houses awoke. The sirens were doing their job. We had to keep out of sight.

Daniel didn’t complain about his ankle but I saw the tight line of his lips. I gripped hold of his hand, manoeuvring us into the darkest shadows, keeping under cover of trees and bushes.

“If we get out of this and we actually make it home, Angela is going to kill us,” he said quietly, trying to lighten the mood.

I smiled. “Just promise me that this is the last time you decide to turn tough-guy.”

He laughed and I imagined his crooked smile in the dark. “This is definitely the last time, I promise.” He sighed. “I’m such an idiot. I make this big speech about wanting to protect you and all I do is get you in trouble.” He kicked a stone and then winced in pain.

“Daniel, I make my own decisions. I decided to go after you tonight. I made you take us to the Slums.” I paused. “I
like
that you let me choose. You’re the only person I know who treats me like an adult.”

Our conversation was cut off early by the sounds of footsteps on the gravel behind us, footsteps which were coming at a jog and belonged to heavy boots. They sounded close.

“This way,” Daniel said, jerking my arm painfully.

He pulled us between trees into a garden. I anxiously checked the house it belonged to. The lights were off and the curtains drawn. I spotted a small tool-shed at the bottom of the lawn and we approached it in silence. Daniel tried the door. It was unlocked. I cringed as the door creaked, keeping one eye on the house, but nothing stirred. We went int
o the shed and pulled the door shut. Inside it was pitch black and I huddled close to Daniel.

“Why do you think she had that scan?” Daniel whispered into my ear.

“She must have been pregnant,” I replied, even though the thought of Mrs Murgatroyd being pregnant horrified me.

“I wonder what happened to the baby,” he said.

The footsteps came closer and we froze. I tried to control my breathing, paranoid by how rasping and loud it had become. Behind me I felt Daniel’s breath on the back of my head, the warmth of his body and his arms wrapped around me.

“I thought I saw something up here,” I heard one of the Enforcers say, his voice muffled by the helmet.

“I think I see footprints,” the other one replied. I imagined them waving a torch around in the dark.

“Let’s try through here,” said the first Enforcer.

I held my breath as the footsteps moved in our direction. Silently, I bent to my knees to look through the key hole of the shed. I saw torches heading towards us, one flashed directly at me and I gasped. Daniel grabbed me and pulled me up, clamping his hand over my mouth, gently shushing me. The Enforcers were just feet away from us now, if they decided to open the shed door we would be found and arrested on the spot. I began to feel that all hope was lost and that we would never make it out of here.

The footsteps stopped. “I can’t see anything but they might have passed this way.”

“We should check the house,” the other one agreed. “We don’t want the whole neighbourhood terrorised.”

“You reckon they were Slum?”

“Most likely. I keep telling ya, the Slum lot are getting worse. The lot of ‘em need putting down.”

“They will do,” agreed his partner. “If London falls it’ll be a massacre in the Areas. As if they’re gonna let the Resistance rise up in the North. Go and knock on the door, see if they’ve seen anything, will ya?”

There were more footsteps as the Enforcer approached the house. Daniel wrapped his arm around me – protectively – and we both held our breath. The Enforcer rapped on the door. He stopped and waited for a few seconds before commencing knocking again.

“Enforcers! Open up your property please!” he shouted.

Another pause and then the squeak of hinges. “Yes, Enforcer, how can I help?” said a woman’s voice.

“A near-by house has been broken into and we believe the perpetrators headed this way. Have you seen or heard anything suspicious?”

We could do nothing but wait and hope. If she mentioned the shed or if the Enforcers thought to look here we were doomed.

The woman sounded frightened. “Oh! How terrible. Was it Blemished handiwork? I’m afraid I haven’t heard anything. I live with my son who is still asleep. We’re both very heavy sleepers I’m afraid.”

“Well, thank you anyway, Ma’am. Be sure to lock your doors and windows before you go back to bed.”

“Oh, I will, Enforcer, I will. Although I don’t know if I will sleep now. How awful for the victim.”

The hinge squeaked shut.

“Well that was a waste of time,” said the Enforcer who had spoken to the woman at the door. “They’ll have a head start on us now. Come on, I bet they ran through the back garden and over the wall.”

“All right,” said his partner.

The Enforcer’s feet dragged in the gravel of the driveway and I heard a thud as they climbed over the fence. Their footsteps turned into a dull plod as they jogged away. I was finally able to breathe again.

“We should wait a few minutes to make sure they’ve gone and so that woman isn’t staring out of the window,” Daniel whispered. His arms were still wrapped around me and I felt a flutter of nerves in my stomach. His breath on my ear sent tingles down my jaw and I shivered.

“Are you cold?” Daniel asked.

“No,” I whispered.

He seemed to become aware that he had his arms around me and gently let me go, stepping back. He left my body a heaving, jangling mess of emotion, crying out for him to hold me again.

We waited for what felt like hours in the cramped space, not able to move. My muscles ached and my ankle throbbed. Finally we ventured out, tip-toeing onto the lawn. Daniel took my hand again and we limped into the darkness for the second time.

*

I didn’t want to go home. By the time we reached Angela’s house the sun was beginning to rise. We collapsed into the kitchen, Daniel hobbling from the pain of his ankle and me bleeding profusely. Angela silently helped us to a seat, her eyes red-rimmed by tears.

“Where have you been?” she hissed at us. “Mum has been asking for you.” She glared at Daniel. “And what the hell has happened to you both?”

I felt so tired that my bones ached. “Long story. Probably best if you don’t know.”

“You were supposed to bring him back,” she said to me. “You’ve
both
done something illegal, haven’t you?”

Daniel and I glanced at each other. Angela angrily ripped at the bottom of his jeans.

“I’ll get disinfectant and bandages,” she snapped. “Mum leaves in two hours if you even care.”

Daniel dropped his eyes in shame. From his haunted glance and the dark circles around his eyes it was obvious how much he cared, probably too much. So much that for a second he hit the self-destruct button. He suffered differently to Angela and he dealt with pain
in his own way. She just couldn’t see that.

“So what happened to your legs,” she said on her return, a little softer after seeing our wounds.

“We were bitten by dogs,” I said.

Angela’s eyes widened. “Bloody big dogs by the look of things.”

I winced as she dabbed cotton pads soaked in disinfectant onto my cuts. She worked quickly, cleaning and dressing the wound. When she looked at Daniel’s bruised ankle she frowned.

“You both should really go to a doctor,” she said.

“This will be fine,” Daniel said. “I trust you.”

Angela’s face brightened and she smiled broadly. After bandaging us up she looked proudly down on her handiwork. “That should help. Mina, you should redress that later. You don’t want it infected.”

“Is Paul home?”

We all looked up to see that Theresa had walked in we
aring her night gown. She seemed to have aged in just a few days and her posture was declining into that of a crooked old woman.

“No, Mum,” Angela said in a voice full of sorrow. “Go back to bed.”

We watched her turn around and hobble off, knowing that in just a few hours we would have to say goodbye.