Дэвид Муди - Strangers

They’d been walking unchallenged for almost a quarter of an hour when Scott stopped. He changed direction and led them down a dark alleyway. ‘Where are we going?’ Michelle asked, talking in whispers despite there being no one else around to hear.

‘Back to work.’

And Michelle began to slowly make sense of their surroundings. She’d never seen it like this before, but she was sure this was close to where she’d dropped Scott off on those few occasions he’d actually managed an uninterrupted day’s work at Barry Walpole’s yard.

He handed George to Michelle and told her to wait near a solitary street lamp by the entrance to the yard, out of plain sight but where he could still see them. Scott then jogged across the yard and forced his way into Barry Walpole’s caravan-cum-office.

He’d triggered the alarm. Scott made straight for the metal key cabinet mounted on the wall by Barry’s desk. He broke into it quickly with a screwdriver, nerves and the shrill alarm noise combining to keep him moving at speed. Keys flew everywhere as he prised the door open and he dropped to his hands and knees and scrambled around on the grubby floor, feeling the constant noise boring into his brain now, clouding his already confused thoughts. And then, right under the desk, his outstretched fingers found what he’d been looking for. He snatched up the keys to the truck and ran back outside.

His family had gone.

‘Michelle,’ he shouted, but he could hardly hear himself think over the never-ending klaxon. Where were they? Had he pushed Michelle too far with what he’d done to Dez and his family? He hadn’t had any choice. It was them or us… it was the only way . He ran over to the truck, no longer sure if he even believed himself.

No time to waste. Helicopters overhead. Easier to find them in the truck. Then again, maybe he should just leave alone? If it wasn’t for George, he thought, he probably would have.

He started the engine and pulled away, accelerating hard down the driveway, figuring Michelle would most probably have tried to get home as there was nowhere else left to go other than back to the school. He’d barely made it halfway to the road when Phoebe jumped out at him from the shadows, scaring him senseless. He slammed on the brakes, virtually standing on the pedal to bring the tired old truck to a stop. Michelle got into the front with George as Tammy and Phoebe clambered onto the flat-bed behind. ‘Drive,’ Michelle yelled at him once she was sure they were safe. He swung around a sharp left turn, then accelerated again. She was confused. ‘You’re going the wrong way. You should have turned right for the house.’

‘We’re not going to the house.’

‘What?’

‘I told you, we’re getting out of Thussock.’

‘You’re not thinking straight, Scott. Everything we own is back at that house. I’m not saying we should stop and pack it all up, just get a few essentials. Our documents, some food and drink, clothes…’

‘No.’

‘For Christ’s sake, it’s on the main road out of Thussock. It’s the most obvious way out of here.’

‘Exactly. That’s why we’re going this way.’

‘But what about the girls? They’ll freeze on the back of this truck.’

‘They’ll be all right.’

Michelle didn’t bother arguing. What was the point? When had he last listened to her, anyway? Maybe if he had, they wouldn’t all be in this fucking mess.

Scott was pushing the truck harder and harder, braking then accelerating, driving like a fucking maniac. The road began to climb – Michelle felt it rather than saw it – and from the shapes of the dark silhouettes on either side, she worked out roughly where they were. They were driving over the hills behind their house now, retracing the route Scott had taken that Saturday afternoon when they’d first arrived in Thussock.

As the road reached its peak then began to descend, Scott braked hard, bringing the truck to an unexpected, juddering halt. Michelle clung onto George with one hand and steadied herself with the other. In the back, both Tammy and Phoebe lost balance and lurched forward, falling against one another and butting heads, yelping with pain. ‘What the hell are you doing?’ Michelle screamed at him, but he didn’t answer, he just left the truck. Incensed, she picked up George and followed him out. He’d stopped a short distance ahead and was standing on the white line in the middle of the road, staring into the distance. ‘I can’t handle this, Scott. You need to…’ She shut up when she saw what was up ahead.

Just beyond the fracking site was a blockade. Scores of soldiers. Plenty of firepower. And it wasn’t just the road, she realised: the blockade stretched for as far as she could see in either direction. ‘They’ve sealed us off,’ Scott said, sounding numb, barely able to believe what he was seeing. ‘The bastards have sealed off the whole bloody town. We’re not going anywhere.’

They didn’t have any other choice now. Other than surrendering themselves to the military, going back to the house was the only option left.

Scott parked the truck on the grass at the side of the house rather than on the drive, hoping to make it less obvious that they’d returned. Phoebe ran to the door but Michelle called her back. It was still open from where it had been kicked in by soldiers this morning. This morning , she thought, was it really only this morning? Was this day ever going to end? ‘I’ll go first,’ she said, but Scott had other ideas and he pushed her out of the way. She followed him in and flicked on the hall light. He immediately switched it off again.

‘Too dangerous. Don’t want anyone knowing we’re in here.’

‘You really think anyone cares?’

He wasn’t going to discuss it. He grabbed her wrist tight and pulled her closer. ‘You leave the fucking lights alone and you do exactly what I tell you, got it?’

He handed George to Michelle, made sure the girls were inside, then propped the broken door shut with an upturned shoe rack. ‘I need the toilet,’ Phoebe said. He glared at her.

‘Be quick, then get into the living room. I want all of you in the living room, got it? You stay out of sight at the back of the house.’

Michelle ushered Tammy through. Scott waited for Phoebe to finish, then made sure she followed. He went into the kitchen and grabbed a little food and drink, pausing at the window. It appeared deceptively calm out there now, but he knew it was just an illusion. They were trapped between the chaos at the school on one side and the military lines securing Thussock on the other. No man’s land.

The girls were sitting on the sofa, George perched between them, while Michelle anxiously paced the other end of the room. There were no street lamps visible here, but the intermittent moon provided a little illumination through the French window. Scott dropped an armful of food onto the coffee table then shut the door. The silence in the room was ominous, the tension unbearable. Tammy stared straight ahead. George looked from face to face, hoping for reassurance from someone but getting nothing. Michelle chewed her nails and watched the others, Scott especially. Phoebe was sitting with her hands in her lap, eyes wide with fear. When she spoke there was a noticeable waver to her voice. She was right on the edge. ‘What are we going to do?’

‘I don’t know yet,’ Scott answered quickly, getting in fast before anyone else could speak. ‘For now we’re just going to sit tight and wait.’

‘Wait for what?’ Tammy demanded. Michelle felt her guts tighten.

‘No, Tammy, this isn’t the time.’

‘Then when is?’

‘Your mother’s right,’ Scott said. ‘Shut up. No one will have expected us to come back here, so we wait for the situation back in town to get sorted, then we leave. Simple. As long as we stay away from everyone else, there’s no chance of any of us getting infected by this damn thing.’