“Annie?”
She blinked hard. Her palms were sweating. She shook her head. What was the sense in telling him and making him feel as crap and helpless as she did? Because what did it matter what she found in that car when she knew in her heart that she was going to cycle away regardless. There was no sense in finding out. They couldn’t stop. Not when they were already behind.
Home. That was her goal. Home and Dan. She had to get there. Everything would be easier if they could just get to the farmhouse. She looked at the others.
“Nothing. Just thinking, that’s all.”
Clive fell back and rode alongside her. “You sure?”
She forced a smile. “Yes.”
He’d been through enough. They all had.
Hours had passed. Well, it seemed like that. She’d lost all sense of time now. Exhaustion was setting in. And cold. She hadn’t expected to get cold when they were cycling. But they were all too tired to push harder and the road had been slightly inclined for quite a while.
All that would have been fine—she would have kept pushing.
But the light was fading.
She wished it was summer, when there’d be more hours of daylight to keep going. The prospect of going by bicycle light was not one they could even consider: those lights were nowhere near bright enough to guide them. It wasn’t just the road they needed to see. There could be anything out there, even now that they’d reached the motorway. It wasn’t any safer—it just presented a different set of challenges. Nighttime brought out the worst in people. They’d only be safe when they reached the farm.
Maybe.
She shivered. That was definitely something she didn’t even want to consider. The prospect of the farmhouse at the end of all this was the only thing keeping her going.
Clive gave a short sharp whistle and the others circled around him. “There’s not much light left. We ought to find a place to stop.”
It was exactly what Annie had been thinking, but she couldn’t help but be annoyed. They had so far to go. “Can’t we just keep going for another while?”
Maybe they still needed to get into the rhythm. On long cycle trips in the past, she’d averaged seventy miles in a day with less effort than she had expended that day. Maybe when they’d eaten some of their supplies…
But that didn’t make sense. They’d blown through most of the water they were carrying, so they should already have felt the benefit of lighter packs.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get there. We have food. And weapons.”
Annie shook her head. “Will we? We’re miles behind where I thought we’d be. And I’m worried about water. All this cycling…we’ve been going through it far faster than I’d hoped but we’ve got to stay hydrated.”
“We need to find a river,” Terry said.
“Yes, I have purification tablets we can use. But I haven’t seen a river, have you?” She stopped when she saw the consternation on their faces. What was the point in saying this now? They were low enough as it was. “We’ll worry about that tomorrow. We have enough water for tonight. That’s all we can think about now.”
Clive cleared his throat. “We’re near Ramsworth. Now, I don’t know the area well, but I know there are warehouses and other industrial buildings on the edge of the town. I think that’s a better bet than trying to camp outdoors. We’re not remote enough to avoid civilisation, but an industrial area may be safer.”
Annie wanted to object that they were still far too close to London, but she stopped herself. She was ready to fall over from exhaustion. “Okay.”
It felt like defeat even though she knew in her heart it was the right thing to do.
They pushed on. Darkness was falling fast and it was already gloomy by the time they reached the next exit. It was hard not to feel at least slightly worried when none of them knew the town at all, except for bypassing it on the motorway. Annie couldn’t even remember ever passing it.
It helped that it was quiet. And it was reassuring that there weren’t plumes of smoke rising from the tops of buildings, as they had seen more than they would have liked on their journey so far that day.
The fading light meant they couldn’t be picky. They pulled into the second industrial estate from the off-ramp. The first one was gated. It wasn’t a huge obstacle, but it was one they could do without—they needed to be able to get out fast if they had to.
Annie held her breath as they slowed down and surveyed the low-slung units around them. They stayed close to each other, with Terry in front, the older couple in the middle and Annie at the back, glancing over her shoulder to make sure they were alone.
The first place that looked promising turned out to be a paint shop. None of them wanted to take the risk of lingering toxic fumes. They cycled on and passed a packaging manufacturer and another business that had something to do with computers. There was nothing objectionable about either, but they kept moving. Something wasn’t right. It was only when they turned the corner and got deeper into the estate that they found what they were looking for.
The other places had been small and attached together, with numerous windows and doors. This was different. It was a large dome-roofed warehouse, the first in a row of five that were completely out of sight of the main road. That wasn’t even the most attractive thing. There was a huge roller door that took up most of the front of the warehouse space and a squat office attached to the side with its own door. That was it. No windows. Plus it seemed like it hadn’t been used in a very long time.
“Let’s check around it,” Terry muttered.
The gate was chained, but when they got closer they saw there was no padlock. Annie unfurled the length of chain, feeling very self-conscious about the noise even though all the buildings looked deserted. Darkness was falling far too quickly and she didn’t dare think about what they’d do if this place wasn’t suitable.
When the chain was removed, Terry pushed the gate open and hurried around the side of the building.
“If this place doesn’t work, I’m sure there’s somewhere else in the estate,” she murmured, more to convince herself than the others.
Terry emerged around the other side a few moments later. He wasn’t exactly smiling, but there was something like relief on his face.
“No doors or windows apart from the ones in front. No-one around.” He turned back and strode to the office door. When he looked back, his smile was gone. “It’s locked. Can any of you see anything lying around that I can use to smash it in? It doesn’t look very strong.”
“Don’t,” Annie muttered. “We need to sleep in there, remember? If the door’s busted we’re not going to get much rest.”
“We won’t get much rest anyway,” Clive said wearily.
He stepped forward and took Terry’s place at the door. He fished something from the pocket of his trousers—she didn’t see what—and fiddled with the door. A few seconds later, he was pushing it open.
“Come on. Before someone sees us. Bring the bikes.”
“This is good,” Annie said, after they had completed a circuit of the place. “This is very good.”
There was nothing in the warehouse part except for a stack of abandoned pallets and a thick layer of dust on the bare concrete floor. But that wasn’t the part that interested her.
The roller door was locked and it wouldn’t budge even when two of them used all their strength to try and shift it from the outside. It felt about as safe as they could hope for. Best of all, they hadn’t seen a soul since they came off the motorway.
The office was small and boxy. There was an outer part with a door into the back where there was a tiny kitchen and bathroom. It was empty too, aside from some empty folders and bits and pieces of office rubbish that had been forgotten when the last tenant shifted out of there.