Scott Andrews - School_s Out

"The Blood Hunters are a cult of personality. It stands to reason that if we eliminate their leader then they won't know what to do. There's every chance they may just wander off."

"I can't believe this is our best plan. Hope they wander off. Jesus," muttered Norton.

"You said he never comes out of the tent, so how are you going to get him out in the open?" asked Bob.

"I'll improvise. Just make sure your man's ready. The second David steps outside, I want him dead. Then while they're running around flapping their hands and wailing you lot come out onto the road and line up, weapons raised. But don't fire unless you have to. And Norton, you lead the boys out of the school and do the same. With their leader dead, and us sandwiching them between two rows of guns and making a show of force, I think there's the possibility of a surrender."

"And Mac?" said Norton. "We don't expect him to just walk away, do we?"

"No. I don't really know what he's going to do. He's the wild card."

Matron held a gun on me as Mac and David walked to one side and talked quietly, glancing over at me every now and then. I stayed seated. I looked up at Matron, trying to get some indication that she was under duress. Nothing.

Eventually David returned to the table. Mac stood behind him, his twisted mouth lolling into a dangerous smile. His face was as hard to read as David's, probably because half of it wasn't really there. But he was up to something, and I didn't like it.

"At the urgings of Brother Sean, I have reconsidered your request to join us," said David.

What the fuck?

"Oh. Um… thanks."

"If you wish to retire to prepare yourself, Sister Jane will sit vigil with you in seclusion until the appointed hour."

"Great, thank you," I said, confused and suspicious. "I promise you won't regret this."

And so Matron and I found ourselves sitting on the grass in a corner of the tent, shielded from view by an improvised partition made of blankets draped over wooden stands.

I had so much I wanted to say. Jane Crowther was funny and vivacious; she stood up for herself and didn't take any shit from anyone. Could this blank-eyed acolyte really be her?

"I'm sorry," I said eventually.

She looked up at me. It was hard to tell, but I thought she looked confused.

"If I'd just got rid of Mac earlier then I could have brought you back to the school sooner. They'd never have found you."

"Thank heaven they did," she replied. "For I am saved!"

Please, God, no. I felt tears starting to well up.

"Nah," she said eventually. "Only kidding."

I had never been so relieved in my life. Except for that time when I didn't die on the scaffold. On reflection, that probably trumps it. But I was pretty bloody relieved. I went to hug her but she pushed me away.

"Better not. I kind of stink. The blood, y'know," she whispered, careful that we shouldn't be overheard by anyone lurking on the other side of the blanket.

"Yeah, about that. I meant to ask, why exactly are you covered in blood, carrying a gun and hanging out with psychotic religious cannibals?

"I'm a loyal disciple now, Lee. Have to be."

"Why?"

"They have the girls. There are about a hundred people travelling with David now, and many of them have medical conditions that need to be managed. They need a doctor, so they need me alive. But I made it clear when they took me that if they harmed any of my girls I'd kill myself. The girls stay alive and untouched as long as I co-operate. They keep them in a caravan but they park it about a mile away from the main tent each night, just so I'm not tempted to try and find them."

"But you're not a doctor."

"You don't know everything about me, Lee," she snapped impatiently. I'd touched a nerve. "I went to medical school for three years."

"So why…"

She interrupted me. "Not important right now. That was another life."

I looked at her blood-caked face.

"You had to convert?"

"Yes. It was a condition."

"So you performed the ritual?"

She nodded. "They chose a Blood Hunter as the victim. Made it a little bit easier. I couldn't have done it to a prisoner. God knows what would have happened to us then, but I couldn't have done it. Even so, it was…" she broke off, unable to continue.

"So the girls are safe and you're the cult doctor, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I don't really want to ask this, but Mac…?"

"Yes, I patched him up. Not the prettiest job, and he died on the table twice, but I managed it in the end. I think it was sheer force of will that kept him alive. He's very, very angry at you, Lee."

"No shit, Sherlock. But why the fuck would you help him?"

"It's my job. I save people. It's what I do. I don't… I try not to kill."

"But after what he did, how could you?"

"How could I not?" she replied furiously.

I didn't know what to say to that. "And he's David's right-hand man?"

She groaned. "Yes. After I patched him up he asked to convert and David let him. Said he had brought a message from God and deserved to be saved. They chose a child for his initiation. A young girl, no more than fifteen. He didn't hesitate for a second. And then he started doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Worming his way in. Showing off, seizing the initiative, getting things done. He brought back more prisoners in the first month than they'd had in the previous three. Their strategist died in the attack on Hildenborough. Mac sussed that there was a vacancy, and filled it. David relies on him a lot now."

"He should watch his back then. He'll be crucified before he knows it."

"Not that easy. Mac doesn't have the same power base here. He's not been able to gather a little gang of followers. Everyone's first loyalty is to David. It was Mac who persuaded David to come here, and he devised the plan of attack. I think he stumbled across the, let's call them officers for want of a better word, a few weeks back, and they hatched the plan together. Lure you away, attack while you're off-site. He was incandescent when the attack on the school failed. He didn't anticipate such an organised resistance. And when he found the bodies of the boys in the truck yesterday evening, my God. Did you do that?"

I explained what had happened to us at the farm and subsequently. As I told her about killing Wolf-Barry she did the strangest thing. She reached out and stroked my hair.

"You poor boy," she said, her voice full of compassion and sorrow.

I suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

"It was necessary," I said awkwardly. "I'm just doing what has to be done."

She nodded, wordlessly. But she left her hand resting on mine.

"So what's with persuading David to let me convert?" I asked.

"I have no idea. Whatever he's got planned it can't be good."

"But the ritual takes place outside, yes?"

"Normally."

"Good. When we get outside things are going to kick off. With any luck there won't be a proper fire-fight, but if the shooting starts I need you to run, as fast as you can, across the road. There's a stile in the hedgerow a few metres to the left of the school gate. They'll be waiting for you and they'll give you covering fire if need be."

She nodded.

At that moment a blanket was flung aside and Mac leered down at us.

"How's the reunion going?" he croaked.

"Sorry?" I replied. "Couldn't quite catch that. Could you enunciate a little better, please."

He looked down at me, furious. It's hard to talk when your lips have been partially burnt away.

I stood up and held out my hand.

"Hey Mac, you look great. No hard feelings, yeah?" I glanced down and pretended to be surprised that there was no hand for me to shake. "Oh. Sorry." Mock embarrassed.

"Come with me," he said, with what looked like an attempt at a smile.