Blood Memory: The Complete Season One (Books 1-5) (41 page)

“
What?” Anne said.

“
I was hoping the prison would be a tent too. Easier to break out of.”

They sat on the dusty dirt floor. Stan ran his fingers through it.
“Bit of a come-down from our last place, isn’t it?” he said.

“
Sorry guys,” Jordan said. “I should have been more careful. Now we’re going to be used as sex slaves.”

“
It’s not your fault,” Stan said. “How could you know we’d run into a sex cult? It could be worse. They might have tried to execute us by morning. At least it’s only sex. I’m rather flattered they would want an old codger like me.”

Raindrops rapped the corrugated iron roof like they were made of stones. Grasshoppers chirped and somewhere an owl hooted.
The rain pooled in at one end of the room. They all shifted a few inches in the opposite direction.

“
I’ve been thinking a lot about the sea lately,” Stan said. “You know what I miss the most? I miss being on water. I miss the feel of the deck moving beneath my feet, the wind through my hair… what little I have left of it, anyway. And there was that feeling when you woke up in the morning, and the sun was just peeking out above the waterline to usher in a new day, and the sea was so calm, so quiet, that you could almost be fooled into thinking all was right with the world. That’s what I miss.”

Jordan looked out at the marsh through the gap in a pair of tree trunks.
“I miss not having to be afraid all the time. I miss knowing that when I went to sleep at night I didn’t have to worry if something would be gnawing on my ankle come morning. I miss feeling safe.”

“
I miss fish.” Anne turned to look at the others who had incredulous expressions. “I know. I never thought I would say it either. We were onto a good thing for a while. But now it’s over. And we’re not likely to ever see it again.”

Footsteps crunched outside. Jordan peered through the
gaps but caught sight only of a pair of jeans and heavy work boots.

“
Who is it?” Anne said, sotto voce.

“
I’m not sure,” Jordan said. “Maybe they’ve come to take us somewhere.”

“
Lordy,” Stan said, unbuttoning his shirt. He turned to Anne. “How do I look?”

The wooden blocks over the door shifted and were laid on the ground with hardly a sound. A large silhouette passed in front of the door. It was big and powerful.
Dust swirled around the doorframe, tinted by moonlight.

Jordan shifted his weight onto the balls of his feet. He faced the door. He ushered the others behind him. He squared his shoulders and took up a fighting stance,
his body tense.

“
Jordan…” Anne said under her breath, hand touching his arm.

The door opened. The doorway was empty.

“Shhh,” a deep voice said.

Jordan didn
’t relax, keeping his fists up. A shadow stepped into the doorway, head pointing up at such an angle so the moonlight spilled across his face.

“
Roland?” Jordan said.

“
Come with me,” he said. “We don’t have much time.”

The camp was silent. Roland’s head swivelled left and right, taking in every detail. He led them through the maze-like camp, never hesitating. They walked tight along the tent line, steering clear of the main thoroughfare.

“
Wait. What are you-?” a muffled voice said from a tent that looked like it had been lifted from an army base.

R
oland froze. He put his finger to his lips. The voice inside the tent quietened down and began snoring. Just a man talking in his sleep.

As they passed another tent, muffled grunts and exclamations of,
“Yes. Yes. More. More,” emanated from it.

Anne slowed and pulled on Jordan
’s arm. “How do we know this isn’t some kind of trap?”

“
Why would they go to all this trouble if it was?”

Anne looked at Roland
’s back. “Do you think we can trust him?”

“
Do we have a choice?”

As they approached the final row of tents that led onto the marshland, a tent
’s flaps opened, and a twenty-year-old brunette, hair askew, came out. Roland froze, but it was too late, she’d seen him. The others stood behind the tent out of sight.

“
Roland?” she said. “What are you doing up?”

“
I… came to see if you’d finished.”

“
With Ray? He always finishes quick.” She stepped toward him, toward the side of the tent where Jordan and the others would be visible. Roland met her halfway. She ran a hand through his beard. “Unlike others I know. You chose Emma. She wasn’t enough for you?”

“
No one’s ever enough for me.” Roland ran his hands over the lumps in the fabric of her robe. “Except you.”

She shut her eyes and enjoyed his gentle but firm caress. She opened her eyes.
“Your tent, ten minutes.”

“
Your
tent. Twenty minutes.”

She frowned.

“I like to keep a lady waiting. Makes her more… amenable.”

“
With you I’m always amenable.” With a saucy smile cast over her shoulder she walked away.

Roland picked up the pace and jogged away from the camp. With no lights the town shrunk back into the darkness like a ship beneath the sea. Roland stood at the edge of the marshland. Jordan could smell it, even if he couldn
’t see it. The flies had abated for the night. The frogs ceased croaking as they approached.

“
We can’t cross the marsh at night!” Jordan said. “What about the Lurchers?”

“
There are no Lurchers this side of the marsh,” Roland said. “At least, not a few hours ago. We are on the opposite side you entered from.”

“
Are you sure you can lead us in the dark?”

“
I know this marsh better than anyone. I will take you via the secret route.”

“
So there is a secret path. Aren’t you worried I’ll return with a hundred Lurchers in tow?”

Roland smiled, the moonlight turning it into a
grotesque mask. “Lindsay gives you more credit than you deserve. You’ll never remember the route at night.” He led them into the marsh.

Jordan followed Roland
’s wide shoulders. The ground beneath his feet felt firm, and for a moment Jordan wondered if they weren’t really in the marsh after all, until he missed his footing and his whole boot sank into stagnant water. They doubled back on themselves three times, once even going in a circle, before the sight of trees drew up in the darkness and Roland came to a stop.

They were in a small clearing that gave onto a thick
hedgerow. Something rustled in the foliage and scampered away.

“
You should continue forward,” Roland said. “You will come to fertile farmland, then you must continue on for ten more miles and you will be at your beloved ocean.”

He turned to leave. Jordan caught the crook of his elbow.

“Wait. Thank you. For doing this.”

Roland sneered and pulled his arm free.
“I didn’t do this for you. I did this for me. Lindsay is mine. She will never be yours.”

He turned and headed back into the marshland, his back disappearing within seconds.

“Lindsay was right about one thing,” Stan said as he turned to the hedgerow and walked through it. “It certainly has been an unforgettable evening.”

The thin wood gave way to the flat rolling hills of farmland. Sunlight cast a golden glow over nature. Soon the sun was blazing and hot above them, a light sweat dotted their brows. They stopped for breakfast, consuming tinned fruit with their fingers.

Jordan pushed aside foliage. A
field sprawled out before them. There was little cover save for a few haystacks dotting the area like acne. A shallow ditch ran up the left-hand side, and a thick hedge cast long shadows from the top. The wind howled across the empty expanse, emphasizing the silence.

“Should we go back?” Anne said.

“Go back where?” Jordan said. “Everywhere looks the same.”

“I don’t feel too good about this.”

“Neither do I, but what choice do we have? We have to keep moving.”

They stepped out into the open with all the caution of a wild deer
, eyes darting in every direction, noses raised in the air for the slightest hint of decaying flesh.

As they drew closer to the haystacks, they found they had been arranged in bizarre building-like structures –
each haystack a building block.

“Did you see anything?” Jordan asked.

Anne leaned against the haystack house, needle-like straw stabbing into her back. “No.”

“All right
. Let’s keep going till we get to the other end of the field. Anne, are you okay?”

She stood frozen, head cocked to one side. “I swear I just heard something.”

“ ‘Something’ what?”

“Voices.” She pointed to the haystack behind them. She put her ear close to it. “Hello? Is anyone in there?”

There was no reply.

“If someone’s in there, please tell us. We haven’t been bitten, and we’re of no danger to you.”

Again there was no reply.

Anne shrugged. “I guess I must have imagined it.”

A single haystack at the base of the building shivered and shook, and was pulled away, creating a hole. A small face looked up at them one at a time. He broke into a grin. “Fancy a cup of tea?”

“I’m Kevin. This is Beth,” the funny little man said. They were both short, blonde and blue-eyed, with large ears and front molars.

“We’ve been staying in and around the fields and eating the fruit and vegetables we find and grow here,” Beth said.

“She always wanted me to be a vegetarian!” Kevin said.

The structure was broad at the base and narrow at the top, where light filtered in through a hole. There was plenty of space for all six people to sit on the blankets on the floor. Occasionally Jordan’s head brushed the roof, and was lightly showered by dust.

“You need to be careful on the roads,” Beth said. “There are brigands about. That’s what we thought you were at first, but then we saw her,” she nodded to Jessie. “There’s no way brigands would take care of her. They’d leave her to starve, or use her as a distraction for the Lurchers.” Beth shook her head. “Brigands. I only ever used to hear that word in Robin Hood stories.” She got to her feet. “You must be hungry. I’m afraid we only have vegetables. No meat.”

“That’s fine,” Anne said. “Can I help?”

“Sure.” Beth led Anne over to a small kitchen area with a long plastic table and a bowl of clean water. They began chopping the vegetables with well-worn, but sharp knives.

“So what did you eat out there on the sea?” Kevin asked.

“Cod. Haddock. Jellyfish,” Jordan said. “Anything we could catch, really.”

“Jellyfish?” Kevin scrunched up his face. “The other fish sound good though. What I wouldn’t give for fish and chips right now…”

“You say that now,” Stan said, “but try eating it every day for six months.”

“It’s the same with these vegetables. No matter what seasoning or sauces we manage to rustle up it always tastes the same. We found a dead pig once. I was so tempted to bring it here, but you can never be sure what it might attract.”
Kevin glanced over at Beth, who was distracted by a chat she was having with Anne. He spoke in a low whisper. “Have you heard anything? We don’t hear much about the outside world.”

“No, not really,” Jordan said.

“Not really? So there is something…”

Jordan hesitated. “I wouldn’t want to worry you.”

“Dude. I’m living in a haystack. There’s not much that wouldn’t worry me now.”

Jordan glanced over at the women. “All right. It’s the
Lurchers. They’re acting strange.”

“
Rising from the dead. Biting people. When have they been any different?”

“
Stranger than normal.”

“
How?”

Jordan looked over again at the women.
They couldn’t hear them, but he lowered his voice anyway. “They’re getting smarter.”

Kevin
looked from Jordan to Stan, then back again. He frowned, the heavy crease marks in his forehead making him look even more like a mouse. “Is this what you’ve heard or what you’ve seen?”

“Both. But it’s not all the Lurchers. Most of them are still as dumb as a post. But a few… they’ve changed.”

“How smart are we talking?”

“
At first they seemed to be the same dumb beasts we always took them for. They attacked at random, without thought or control. We were making our way back to our boat when they fell on us.”