Ramsey Campbell - The Claw

At first all he could see was the claw. Its talons were upturned toward him, beckoning. When he looked up he saw Anna cowering among the toys. She must have flung the claw away from her, he realized. Perhaps something had made her throw it down in front of him, a challenge. He had yet to do what must be done.

First he had to get Anna out of the room, away from the claw. He mustn't give in to the temptation to hurl the talisman into the fog, even if that might persuade her to trust him. It had to stay here, where he knew where it was. But when he moved toward her and the claw she cowered back into the cupboard like an animal into its lair.

He mustn't do anything that might make her run into the fog. Somehow he didn't want to leave her for any length of time in the room with the claw. He stepped forward again, slowly so that she could see what he was doing, and kicked the claw into the furthest corner of the room, near the mark where something had been thrown at the wall.

His gesture seemed not to help. Anna looked ready to dodge around him and out of the door the first chance he gave her. He remembered how she'd done that once before. 'All right, Anna,' he said. 'AH right, baby. I won't hurt you. I want to take you where you'll be safe.'

Her face made it clear how that sounded to her. He mustn't let that reach him now; there would be time enough to feel shame and guilt and grief. 'Mummy's hurt,' he said. 'Granny Knight's taken her to the hospital. She'll want to see you're all right. Come on.'

She was staring at him with a child's boundless contempt, as if she couldn't believe he expected that to take her in. How could he have thought she would want to see Liz? He'd hoped that the idea of her mother in hospital would move her, but things had obviously gone too far. There was only one way to make her obey him, dismaying though it was. 'You don't want to stay here with me, do you?' he said.

He had to steel himself against the sudden terror in her eyes. 'Well then, come downstairs where I can see you while I phone for a taxi,' he said. 'You can sit on the stairs.'

He stood back from the doorway, though that took him toward the claw, until at last she crawled out of the cupboard. It looked as if cramp was forcing her to emerge. All the way across the room she seemed ready to run, to slam the door in his face. When he took her arm as he closed the door he felt her give herself up for lost.

He sat her down a few stairs from the bottom and managed to find a taxi firm that was operating in the fog. 'Just a few minutes, sir,' the girl on the switchboard promised, but he still wondered if he'd made his need sound urgent enough. Now there was nothing to do but wait and feel the exhaustion of his journey out of Africa threatening to overcome him, remember burying Isaac's body and saying as much over the grave as he could think of before trudging blindly through the jungle until luck brought him back to the road, remember the immeasurable sad resignation in Mrs Banjo's eyes before he had spoken a word… How long would the taxi be now? How long could he expect Anna to sit there without plotting to escape? Was the taxi delayed by the fog or by the follower of the claw, the blood-caked deathless famished follower? Surely it must try to stop Alan if it realized what he meant to do.

The soft sounds outside the house, a murmur and a thud, made Anna's eyes brighten with fear. It wasn't until the front door thundered that Alan was sure they had been the sounds of a taxi. 'Taxi for Knight,' the red-faced driver said, sniffing.

'We're ready,' Alan said, trying to pretend that every- thing was normal. The doors of the dripping vehicle had child-proof locks, thank God. He locked Anna in the back and turned away from her desperate look. 'I won't be a moment,' he told the driver, and ran upstairs.

He had to be quick, in case Anna persuaded the driver to let her go. All the same, he faltered when he reached the door of Georgie's bedroom. Suppose the bloody man was there, waiting to be fed or to save the claw? But the room was deserted except for a faint metallic smell that made his stomach churn. He grabbed the claw and felt nothing: no compulsion, no fear. What he had done in Africa had neutralized its influence over him. He shoved it inside his jacket, then he ran down to the taxi and sat beside the driver. 'Norwich,' he said urgently.

The fog appeared to be thickening. The road was a winding tunnel whose walls were closing in. The middle-aged driver slowed down even more whenever he heard a car. Alan tried to avoid meeting Anna's eyes in the mirror, but when he stared through the windscreen he thought sometimes that a figure was pacing the vehicle, just the other side of the wall of fog. Whenever the fog drifted he expected to see the figure waiting, red as blood.

The fog fell back as it reached the streets of Norwich. Five minutes later the taxi drew up in front of the hospital. He ascertained which ward Liz was in and hurried Anna through the gleaming corridors. For a while it seemed the corridor would never end.

Liz was trussed up in a bed at the near end of the ward. Her chest was bandaged, her right leg was held in the air by cords; she tried her best to lift her head to see who had come to the ward. Anna stared at her from the doorway and wrung her hands, then she ran into the ward, crying, 'Mummy.'

Isobel got up to restrain her, and caught sight of Alan. 'I won't be Jong,' he said, striding away before she could stop him. Of course he didn't know how long he would be, he only hoped. At least the sight of her mother in hospital had swept away Anna's fear, and now he had to make sure there was nothing to be afraid of, had to make sure that the claw could harm nobody else. He could feel how hard it would be to break. He climbed into the waiting taxi. 'Liquid Gases,' he said.

They had to go back along the road toward the coast, a journey of several miles. He couldn't have gone straight there, couldn't have risked taking Anna. Even now the sight of the storage tanks, looming like huge balloons out of the fog, made his stomach tighten, made him grasp the claw inside his jacket until the talons scratched his chest. It wouldn't be long now.

The rear lights of the taxi dwindled, staining the fog red, as Alan picked up the phone at the gate. 'Alan Knight for Mr Rothwell.'

'I don't know if he's on site just now. If you'll come to Reception I'll find out.' The owner of the rich deep Norfolk voice, which reminded Alan suddenly and poignantly of Isaac, released the gates for him, and Alan hurried along the paved crooked path which led to Reception. Apart from a tanker, he could hear nothing near him in the fog.

'He shouldn't be more than a few minutes.' The young man behind the window at Reception gazed at him. 'You're the writer, aren't you? I read The Cold Cold War. Borrowed it, actually, I hope you don't mind. The scene when they turn the hose on the girl is the one Mr Rothwell helped you with, isn't it? There were a couple of things there I wanted to ask you about…'

Alan couldn't cope with this just now. 'Do you mind if I find myself a seat in his office? I've been doing quite a lot of walking.'

'I suppose not, seeing it's you.' The other didn't look suspicious, only disappointed. 'You know where it is.'

The upper floor seemed deserted. Nothing moved beyond the frosted glass partitions of the offices. Alan sat by the site manager's desk, which was spread with a flow chart, and hoped he wouldn't have to wait long. If the site manager wanted to know why he wanted a sample of liquid nitrogen, he need only say that he would like to see how it affected metal for himself. Ten minutes' immersion and the metal of the claw ought to be ready to snap.

Perhaps the floor wasn't entirely deserted. Someone must have come in through an exit to the site, for he could hear them snuffling. Colds were to be expected in this weather. He glanced along the corridor, but could see nobody. He might be better occupied in finding Rothwell, since the manager didn't know he was waiting. The sooner the claw was beyond anyone's reach, the better.