Lorna had gone down to the far end of the caravan and had worked her way back up, checking the bedrooms and small bathroom for others. She’d found Shirley cowering in one of the bedrooms, no one else.
“This it?” she asked.
“Just me, Shirley, and Caron,” Howard replied. “Are you surprised? Don’t forget, Jas, Kieran, and Paul were in here. Funny how most folks preferred the van next door.”
* * *
The noise coming from the prefabricated rooms nearby and the excitement it had caused was enough to make Michael decide to change his plans. He’d managed to get both sides of the gate open without being noticed. A handful of corpses had attempted to stagger in, but the frost was gripping and they were so badly decayed that they only lasted a couple of paces before collapsing. In fact, he realized, their forward movement was due more to the fact the gate they’d been leaning up against had moved than anything else.
Michael started to run toward the caravan but then turned back and tucked himself in against the wall when an armed, half-dressed man he didn’t recognize thundered past.
Over in the farthest corner of the castle grounds, Harry sensed that something was wrong. He could see people crisscrossing the courtyard in the moonlight, but from here he couldn’t tell if Michael or Harte were among them.
“Anyone you recognize?” he said to Bob Wilkins who was sitting next to him in the front of the truck.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” Bob whispered, “but that looks like Kieran. He’s one of Jas’s lot.”
Harry waited a few seconds longer before deciding he had to move. He started the engine and accelerated out into the open, trying to get close enough to the caravans so that Harte and the others could make the quick short dash to safety. He could already see that the gates were open.
* * *
Shirley barged closer to the caravan door.
“Is that for us?” she asked, pushing past Howard and Harte when she saw the truck’s headlights approaching. Harte tried to grab her but she was too fast, slipping between them and running outside before stopping in front of the truck and waving her arms wildly. Harry slammed on the brakes and she ran around to the back where Sue was calling out to her. Lorna ran out to follow her but then ducked down and turned back when a gunshot rang out. In the emptiness of the night it sounded close but unnervingly directionless and she dived for cover, falling back into the caravan.
“We’ve got to run for it,” Harte said, helping her up. “We’ve got to get on that truck.”
Outside he could see Bayliss trying to head off the truck now, reloading the rifle as he marched toward it.
“Go!” Howard yelled, trying to push them all forward. “Just get out of here!”
Another gunshot echoed around the castle courtyard, this time hitting the front of the truck and smashing a headlamp. Howard tried to lead them out of the caravan but Kieran appeared and blocked him, pushing them all back inside. He was armed too.
“Stay here,” he warned, making sure they all saw his gun. “Don’t any of you move a bloody muscle.”
* * *
* * *
Lorna pressed her face against the caravan window and watched the truck’s taillights disappear from view. Behind her, Kieran blocked the door.
That’s it now, she thought sadly. We’re truly fucked.
41
“One of you get the gates closed,” Jas ordered as he tried to force the kitchen door open, “and put a fucking van in front of it to stop any other fucker getting out.”
Paul Field immediately jumped into action, keen to get away from Jas more than anything else. Melanie watched from a cautious distance as Jas shoulder-charged the door again and again. Inside the kitchen, Ainsworth tried to kick his way out in the gaps between Jas’s attempts to batter his way in. Eventually, between them, they’d done enough damage to the door to be able to get it open. Ainsworth staggered out into the café, as unsteady on his legs as any of the dead. Melanie shone a torch in his face and grimaced. He was badly bruised, one eye swollen shut. He dropped to his knees in front of Jas and spat out blood.
“What the hell happened to you?” Jas demanded. “Who did this?”
“Lorna,” he replied, barely able to speak her name.
Jas turned and glared at Melanie. “Find her.”
“But she’s probably gone—” Melanie started to say.
“They can’t have all got out. Get the rest of them rounded up.”
* * *
“So that all went well,” Kieran said. “Nice rescue attempt.”
“Fuck you,” Harte spat at him. “We got most people away.”
“But not all.”
“There’s still time,” Lorna said. “Jas can’t keep us locked up in here.”
“Seems to me like he’s going to try,” Kieran replied, looking through the window over Lorna’s shoulder. “See that? He’s got someone blocking the gate with a van.”
“Well, that’s us screwed then, isn’t it,” Howard moaned.
eight="0em" width="2em" align="justify">“Not quite,” Kieran said. “There’s another way out.”
“Bullshit. You’re taking the piss,” Harte said quickly. Forgetting himself, he squared up to Kieran, who didn’t react.
“How do we know you’re not pulling a fast one on us?” asked Howard.
“You don’t. Now shut up and get out of sight. Someone’s coming.”
There was a sudden scramble as people disappeared into other rooms in the caravan and hid under beds. Lorna crouched under a melamine table in a cluttered dining area and listened as Kieran went outside. She could hear him talking, and she could hear Melanie’s voice too.
“Nah, I’ve checked in here,” he said, “it’s empty. They must have got away in that truck.”
“Jas is going mental. He’s scaring me, Kieran.”
“He’s been scaring me since it all kicked off this morning. Stick with Paul and Will and you might be okay.”
“You sure they’re not in there?”
“I’m telling you, Mel, this caravan’s empty. I was going to try around the cesspit next. Thought I heard people around there just now.”
Lorna heard footsteps moving away, then Kieran returned to the caravan. She poked her head above the table and he beckoned her out. She hissed for the others to come out from their hiding places too.
“So where’s this other exit?” Lorna asked. “I’ve never seen it.”
“How did you get in?” Howard asked Harte.
“We came in over the wall. Harry, the guy who just took off in the truck, was into rock climbing and all that stuff. The rope’s probably still there if you fancy it.”
“No need for that,” Kieran said. “There is another way.”
“Why should we believe you?” Lorna said. “You’ve been up Jas’s backside for days. You’re just bluffing…”
“I know how it must look, but I was just covering my back, that’s all. It seemed to make sense to stick close to the guy who was making most noise.”
“We can argue about this later,” Harte said. “Where’s this way out?”
“I’ve been here since the start,” Kieran explained. “I found this place on the morning everyone died and I decided to stay here. I didn’t think you could get anywhere much safer than a bloody castle.”
“So? Get to the point.”
“So ere only a few of us here to begin with, and we thought we’d got the place completely sealed off. But we were just sitting there one day, and Jackson appeared from out of nowhere.”
“How?”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. He found another way in. He got in through the bloody dungeons.”