Дэвид Муди - Strangers

‘Come on, Tam,’ Michelle said and dragged Tammy upstairs.

‘Something I said?’ Scott shouted after them. ‘Where you going now?’

‘To check on Phoebe and George.’

‘But I thought you wanted to talk…’

They went into Phoebe’s room and found her sitting on her bed, knees drawn up to her chest, George playing by her feet. Her face was drawn; eyes red, cheeks streaked with tears. She didn’t even look up. Michelle crouched down and put a hand on her arm but Phoebe pulled away. ‘Come on, Pheeb, please… don’t do this.’

‘Don’t do what?’ Phoebe said, her voice so quiet the words were hard to make out. ‘I haven’t done anything. It was you, remember? You and my dad. I saw you.’

‘Look, if I could do something to put this right, I would. I swear, I don’t know what happened or why… I think we’re all under a lot of stress right now with the house move and new jobs and new schools and—’

‘I’ve tried though, Mum. I haven’t done anything wrong. When you lot were all bitching and fighting, I was just getting on with it, trying to make the most of it. None of this is my fault.’

‘I never said it was.’

‘You and my dad, trying to shag each other out in public…’

‘Don’t use that word, Phoebe.’

‘What do you want me to say instead then? Cuddling? Raping ? It was disgusting…’

‘I only went out there to try and talk to him. I didn’t mean for the rest of it to happen, I swear. I just—’

She stopped talking abruptly when she heard a noise downstairs. Someone was at the front door. Was it Jeremy? Tammy had the same thought and she moved fast, desperate to get there before Scott did. The door flew open before she was halfway downstairs, kicked in from outside. Hazmat wearing soldiers flooded into the house. Michelle yanked Tammy back as Scott ran at the nearest of them. They overpowered him easily, catching his arms and dragging him into the kitchen, kicking and yelling. They looked terrifying in their camouflaged all-in-one suits, their faces obscured by breathing apparatus, eyes hidden behind reflective visors.

George clung to Michelle’s leg. She scooped him up into her arms and ran back to Phoebe’s room, pushing Tammy ahead of her. Once inside, she turned to shut the door, only to find it wedged open by a light brown boot. The soldier forced the door open again, sending Michelle, George and the girls running to the furthest corner of the room. He had a rifle, but left it slung over his shoulder. His gloved hands were raised. ‘Come downstairs please, ladies,’ he said, his deep voice distorted by his breathing gear. ‘Everything’s going to be all right.’

Michelle thought she detected a faint Midlands accent and that familiarity, bizarrely, made her feel marginally safer. There were three more soldiers on the landing, and even more behind them. The first man led them back down to the kitchen in silence as others explored the rest of the house.

‘Anyone else here?’

‘No, just the five of us,’ Michelle said. She felt herself relax, or was it just that she was finally giving up and shutting down? Was she relieved because there were people here now who could keep Scott under control, or was it more than that? Somehow, in the utter chaos of this day so far, the house being invaded by a horde of faceless, protective-suit wearing soldiers made things feel a little more certain. She began to think it might not just be this household which was screwed-up beyond repair. Maybe the rest of Thussock was the same too?

When Phoebe looked into the face of the next soldier, all she saw was herself reflected back. It wasn’t until the soldier spoke that Phoebe realised it was a she. ‘Go into the kitchen with your mum and dad, love. And don’t worry, everything’s gonna be okay.’

Phoebe glanced out through the kicked-in front door. The yard was full of military machinery. There was some kind of truck blocking in the Zafira, and a jeep on the road with a soldier manning the kind of massive machine gun she’d only ever seen in films before. There was another vehicle too. It looked like her old school minibus, all done up in army colours.

The entire family was rounded up in the kitchen. They stood next to each other in front of the huge hole Scott had knocked in the wall, feet crunching in the brick dust and plaster, the closest they’d been to each other all morning. There were soldiers standing either side of Scott, ready to restrain him if he kicked off again. ‘What the hell’s this about?’ he demanded, spitting the words angrily at the intruders.

‘Don’t be alarmed.’

‘Don’t be alarmed? Fuck’s sake, you break into my house carrying guns and wearing fucking facemasks and suits, and you tell me not to be alarmed?’

‘Please…’ Michelle said, clinging onto George with one hand and trying to hold onto Phoebe with the other. ‘What’s happening…?’

‘If you’d like to come with us,’ another soldier said, standing to one side, opening a clear passage through the ranks. Jesus , Michelle thought, how many of them are here?

‘I’m not going anywhere until you fuckers tell me what’s going on,’ Scott said, standing his ground. His resistance didn’t last long. With a nod from the commanding officer, two soldiers hauled him outside. He protested at first, struggling to get free, but there was no point.

The others were ushered out. Michelle walked across their suddenly chaotic yard, looking around in disbelief. High overhead, three helicopters circled Thussock like birds of prey, and in the fields on the other side of the road she saw a long line of similarly suited figures moving across the land. They looked like they were combing it, hunting for something. It reminded her of the people they’d seen from the hills when they’d first arrived in Thussock. And every soldier she could see – every last one of them – was armed.

They were loaded into a van. She sat down with Tammy and Phoebe, George perched on her lap. Scott was a few seats ahead, still seething. He made fleeting eye contact with the others, but that was the limit of their communication.

The back of the van was more secure than she’d expected: a metal division between those in the front and their passengers behind, just a small rectangular hole cut into it at driver’s eye level. It was stiflingly hot and claustrophobic. Dogs die in hot cars , was all she kept thinking.

Scott pressed his face against the glass and watched the soldiers crawling over his property. They were everywhere now – visible in all the windows, checking the garage and outbuildings, disappearing around the side of the house and rummaging through the garden, sticking their noses into places he hadn’t even looked yet. What the hell were they after? After what he’d already seen this morning, he didn’t want to know.

The back of the van was slammed shut and they began to move. Michelle looked over at Scott, hoping for some reassurance but getting none.

Minutes later and they neared the bus shelter, travelling as part of a convoy with other vehicles. Scott was less concerned with all the military might now, more worried about how the girls would react if they saw their father’s butchered body lying on the verge. He didn’t know what to do. Did he try and distract them, or not bother and just let Tammy and Phoebe see Jeremy lying there in his blood-soaked, naked glory. He cursed himself. Should have thought about this . He was sitting on the wrong side of the van. If he’d sat where Michelle was he’d have been able to block their view. As it was, he had no chance.

Except it didn’t matter.

Jeremy’s body had gone, a grubby crimson-brown stain on the grass the only indication he’d ever been there. There were more soldiers here, a crowd of them gathered around the back of a military ambulance.