Blood Memory: The Complete Season One (Books 1-5) (59 page)

“I’m that predictable, huh? So, what’ll we do now?”

“Get out of here and rescue Jordan, then get to the cat.”

“But the compound… It needs us.”

“It’s done well this long without us. I don’t think we’ll make that much difference now.”

T
here was a roaring sound. Of words and voices, but Anne couldn’t quite make them out. They sounded happy, like cheering. Looking down the hill and into the compound, Anne made out the soldiers pumping victorious fists into the air. Anne recognised the words. She repeated them to Jessie, disbelieving: “We won. It’s over, Jess! We won!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Listen. We won.” Squeals escaped their lips as they hugged one another tight, eyes becoming moist.

“We won, Anne! We won!”

Then there was another sound – a loud
crack
like God was playing marbles.

Anne looked over at the
north wall. Rocks spilled down from the parapet, splashing in brown stagnant puddles pooling at its base. The guards on the wall stumbled, trying to keep their balance. The pools of water shrank, then disappeared altogether as if the earth was quenching its thirst. The earth sank, giving way, and segments of the north wall lurched forward. The larger rocks on top, displaced, fell and hit the ground with a heavy thump. The guards fell amongst the debris, none of them getting back up again.

“What’s going on?” Jessie said.

“I don’t know. Let’s get out of here.”

A grey hand reached out of the hole and pulled the dirt away, digging its way out, as if from a shallow grave. Its fingernails were torn and split, thick night-black blood oozing out from beneath its nails. Then there wasn’t one hand but two, three, then a dozen, two dozen, three, four… all scraping and digging. Terror gripped Anne, and for a moment she couldn’t move.

Jessie pulled on her hand and said, “Anne! Come on! We have to go!”

They ran down the hill toward the compound, picking up speed with the decline. Jessie skidded to a stop, almost dislocating Anne’s arm in the process.

“Jess! What are you doing? We’ve got to go.”

Jessie pointed with a quivering finger at the remains of a house ahead. Figures emerged from the ground, earth spilling from their shoulders, eyes shining in the moonlight.

The map reflected the changing Great Yarmouth landscape. The corners were held down by empty biscuit tins and cracked teapots. Jordan had drawn twenty-one red crosses on it, and described how to find each of the secret entrances. Commander Harris had crossed off each of the entrances they knew about and had blocked. They were left with five.

“Ignoring the one I came through today,” Jordan said, “only a few Lurchers could get through there. We’d just need one soldier to hold that position. That leaves us with four entrances. One behind the weapons storage facility, along the west wall – that must be how they’re out-flanking us. And the other three…”

“All in the north. With a skeleton crew on the walls.” Commander Harris looked up from the map. “I think we know where they’ll be attacking from.”

“The north corner. When I was with Tim, I saw a map he had on the wall. It was crude and rough, but I remember seeing something square and box-like drawn up here somewhere.” Jordan gestured to the area around the north wall. “I think that’s where Tim will be.”

“You said he’s telepathic,” the commander’s lips struggled to fit around the word, “so why would he need to be close? He could be anywhere.”

“He said there were more like him – all in different places. I think they have a limited area they can control Lurchers from. Otherwise, there would only be one Tim.”

Commander Harris shook his head. “Sounds risky.”

“With all due respect, sir, not trying to take out Tim would be riskier. His army is too large. We can’t defend against it indefinitely.”

“Making offense our only option.” Commander Harris breathed out through his teeth.

“I wish there was a better way, but I’ve met him, sir. It’s the last thing he would expect. He thinks he’s got us beat.”

“Pride before a fall. Maybe he’s more human than we thought.”

“If we can take him out,” Jordan said, “the Lurchers will fall apart.”

Commander Harris nodded. “Yes, that follows. But they’ll still be Lurchers.”

“Uncoordinated Lurchers. They’ll attack each other as much as us. They’re easily distracted. That’ll be our chance. Who’s stationed on the north corner?”

“Pearson. He’s a reliable man. He should be making his report in…” He checked the clock, and then frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“He was supposed to check in three minutes ago.”

“Maybe the messenger just got delayed.”

“Not if you knew Pearson. He doesn’t eat a Cheerio unless it’s perfectly formed.”

Commander Harris spoke to someone outside the door, and then shut it. As soon as he did, a loud roar rang out from a thousand hoarse voices; big and deep and clear. Cheering.

“What the blazes?” Harris opened the door, increasing the volume.

Baxter came running up the ramp. “Sir, we’ve won. The enemy has been destroyed, sir!”

Commander Harris and Jordan shared a look. Harris put on his jacket. “Assemble the men, Sergeant. We’re to move on the north corner.”

“Sir?” Baxter said. “But we’ve won, sir.”

“We’ve been hoodwinked. But we haven’t been beaten yet.”

Baxter scowled at Jordan. “Don’t believe his lies, sir. I know him. Whatever he said will be for his own advantage.”

“Thank you, Sergeant, but I fear Jordan here has little to gain from such an attack. Assemble the men. Take all guards off the south wall and include them in the march north. I will also require a small contingency of soldiers. I will lead them out the gate.”

“But sir, that will leave us completely exposed! What if they regroup?”

Commander Harris’s eyes grew hard.

Baxter looked away. “Yes, sir. Right away, sir.”

Harris stomped down the ramp in his great black boots, barking orders.

Baxter turned to Jordan. “Well, you did it. Ten minutes with you and he’s as crazy as you are.”

Jordan ignored him. “Did you find Anne and Jess?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“They were spotted walking through the old accommodation sector.”

“Where’s that?”

Baxter smiled. It didn’t have a shred of warmth in it. “Why, the north corner.”

Anne and Jessie peered through the window. It was still two inches ajar from Jessie’s former camping position. Within a few minutes the Lurchers had emerged from their earthy prison and arranged themselves into long rows, shoulder to shoulder, chest to back. There had to be thousands of them. And they were completely silent.

The cheers were still going up at the other end of the compound.

“Oh my God,” Anne said. “They’ll be overrun.” She turned to Jessie. “How would you like to do something really brave?”

“Like what?”

“Do you hear those soldiers cheering down there? They don’t know these Lurchers are here. We have to warn them.”

“But how? The Lurchers will hear us.”

“I know.” Anne let the meaning sink in.

Jessie’s eyes shimmered. “But you said we
were leaving.”

“Maybe we will, but we need to warn them first. Okay?”

The Lurchers, packed into the area like a train during rush hour, were pushed forward by those still filing in from the back.

“They want to annihilate us,” Anne said. “Overrun the compound without mercy, to run and not stop, tearing through every man, woman and child they meet. We can’t let them.”

Jessie nodded, but her fear was tangible. “Okay.”

Anne kissed her on the forehead. “How many rounds do you have?”

“Five.”

“Make them count.”

Jessie took aim at a Lurcher on the front row, finger caressing the trigger. She breathed deep calming breaths, and her hitching sobs subsided. She began to squeeze the trigger.

A shot rang out.

A dozen Lurchers dropped. Anne blinked. “Wow, Jess. That was an amazing shot.”

“It wasn’t me.”

The Lurchers looked up. A long line of heads appeared above the hillside, followed by uniforms, rifles, and standard issue boots. As the soldiers crested the hill, their guns burst into life.

The Lurchers, as one, turned to see the origin of the shots and, realizing their element of surprise had been shattered, their torn devastated faces curled into matching masks of anger. Tim’s anger. They broke formation and ran at the soldiers, a wall of slashing claws and snapping teeth.

Beside Jordan,
Baxter raised his rifle over his head and, for no other reason than he probably thought he should, bellowed, “For humanity!” He could have said, “For socks!” and the men would have picked up the chant with equal vigour. The two front lines met amid a hail of bullets and blood.

Commander Harris led a retinue of ten men on horseback out the front gates. There wasn’t a live Lurcher to be found amongst the heaped carrion. The horses whinnied at the smell of festering death around them. Harris heard the flutter of wings and caw of ravens as they feasted, but they were all but invisible in the night.

Once they wound a safe path through the battlefield, Harris inhaled a deep lungful of cool fresh air – his first in a year. He led his men around the eastern wall toward where Jordan believed Tim would be stationed. The sound of gunfire, from here like children’s cap guns, popped in the distance.

Harris expected to see some sign of a carriage, a car, something… but there was nothing.

Then he saw it.

A white flatbed truck. The front cab and engine had been replaced with two rows of Lurchers wearing modified horse collars. They were lashed to the truck with thick ropes. Around it stood a defensive ring of Lurchers, looking out in every direction, fingers curled into angry claws, poised for attack.

A boy sat upright in a throne-like chair on the flatbed, his bone-white forearms and face glowing in the moonlight like
an underworld Boudica. His eyes were shut tight.

“Let’s set up here,” Harris said.

The men hopped off their horses and lifted down a crate. One man took out a long tube and rested it on his shoulder. He got down on one knee and took aim.

“
Prepare to fire on that flatbed truck,” the commander said.

The soldiers exchanged nervous glances. One brave soul said,
“But sir… It’s just a kid.”

The commander backhanded the
soldier, causing him to stagger. “Since when has age been a prerequisite to becoming a Lurcher? It hasn’t. They’re at their most dangerous when they look like that. They prey on our weakness as human beings – our compassion. Mark my words: he would tear out your throat as soon as look at you.

“
That child is not human. That kid is a monster. We’ve all lost friends and family to this scourge, and that kid in the root of it all. With him dead we might have a chance of beating them. Am I understood?”

The soldier with the split lip nodded, his respect for the commander
undiminished. He loaded a rocket into the bazooka.

“
Prepare to fire.”

“Ready,” the
split-lipped soldier said, tapping the soldier with the bazooka on the helmet.

“Fire!” Harris said.

There was a deep low thud. Smoke burst out the front and back ends of the tube simultaneously. The rocket flew.

The Lurchers heard the loud hissing a
fraction of a second before the rocket slammed into them, sending body-parts flying into the air. The truck rocked over, almost onto its side, but returned to its wheels.

The boy sat up in his throne, eyes still closed, and turned to look at
the soldiers. His hands flew out like he were casting a spell. The Lurchers flew from the smoke at full sprint.

“Reload!” Harris bellowed, taking out his gun. “Prepare to fight, lads.”

The soldiers moved in front of the rocket launcher, at the base of the small hill. They aimed their rifles.

The rocket clicked into place. “Ready, sir.”

“Wait for the smoke to clear, then fire again,” Harris said.

T
he Lurchers descended on the men at the foot of the hill. Harris pulled the trigger of his own gun. This time he didn’t hear the crack of the bazooka, but he saw the smoke as it was picked up by the wind. Harris roared as he ran down the hill, firing his rifle in short bursts and prayed to God the rocket hit the target.

Looking down at the ensuing battle, it became obvious there was no way the soldiers could hold against such an onslaught. The Lurchers outnumbered them at least three to one, and more were emerging from the underground pits every minute. Injured soldiers were left to die and become Lurchers themselves, swelling their ranks. The Lurchers pushed their advantage, breaking the left and right flanks. The soldiers fought tooth and nail, but gave yard after yard to their relentless attackers.