McKenzie screamed, both arms wrapped around his head. I didn t touch her!
Ever been waterboarded? Because you re
A noise behind me.
God s sake: why did no one ever listen? Alice, I told you to wait in the mortuary. I turned. Froze.
It wasn t Alice. It was the Rat Catcher. She was huge, shoulders hunched, staring down at me. Her eyes shone in the torchlight, like the rats in their cages She bared her teeth. Leave my little brother ALONE!
The fist came from nowhere sparks exploded deep inside my head, making everything fuzzy as the floor rolled beneath my feet. Then another one.
I lurched back, stumbled over something, went crashing against the wall of cages. Hissing, rattling, snapping yellow teeth.
The next punch drove all the air from my lungs, and wrapped barbed wire around my chest.
Fight back. Fight back, you useless bastard.
I swung for her face. Missed. Got another punch in the stomach for my troubles.
Knees wouldn t work any more.
She grabbed me by the lapels, pulled me forwards, then slammed me into the cages again.
Screeching rats. The stink of piss and droppings.
Gouge her eyes out. Bite her. Kick her in the crotch. DO SOMETHING!
She curled her fist back and grinned at me. You ve been naughty.
Bang.
I blinked. How? I was on the floor, lying on my back, looking up at a network of wires and pipes. Ringing in my ears, black dots swirling in front of my eyes. Unnngh
Voices in the red-tinted gloom.
McKenzie: Who s Katie Henderson?
Rat Catcher: Dunno.
He thinks we took fourteen girls, I mean, why would we take fourteen girls? It doesn t make any sense.
I m tired.
It took three goes to haul myself up onto my elbows. I blinked again, tried to shake the black dots away. My head throbbed.
The pair of them were sitting on the concrete floor, the wall behind them full of glowing eyes.
McKenzie brushed the hair back from his sister s face.
It s OK. Soon be time to go home.
All finished.
He smiled. All finished.
Your ear looks sore.
It looked like a chunk of chewed bacon.
I grabbed the tipped-over shelving unit and used it to pull myself up, until I was sitting with my back against the sink in the corner. Panting, sweating, every move fanning the flames. My foot throbbed and burned, my back crackled, my head filled with boiling smoke.
The Rat Catcher pointed at me. He knows.
McKenzie nodded. Everyone knows, now.
We should kill him. Kill him and put him in the incinerator.
Fuck Fuck the pair of you. I reached into my jacket But the gun wasn t there.
McKenzie held it up. Shook his head. No.
We kill him and we put him in the incinerator. She stood, towering over both of us.
Lisa, we can t. I can t. He stared at the gun in his hands. We need to go away, before more people come.
We can t go away till we see to Andrea.
They ve got her. They came to the house. They ve taken her away. He looked at me. Haven t you?
I wiped the sweat out of my eyes. It s over.
It s not over. The Rat Catcher curled her dirty hands into fists. We get her back. We get her back and we make the bitch pay for what she did to us! The blood, the screaming, the photographs. We get her back.
There s a firearms team on its way down here right now. You re not going anywhere.
We get her back and we tear her apart, just like all the others. She stepped forwards. We kill him and we put him in the incinerator.
I grabbed a bottle of bleach from the debris on the floor. Fumbled at the lid with my aching fingers. What stupid bastard invented child-proof caps? Come on
She grabbed me by the throat and dragged me to my feet.
Ulk Her hand was a noose around my neck, tightening, cutting off the air, making the blood thump in my ears. I scrabbled my hands at her creased face, pulled at her fingers. They wouldn t budge.
The bleach bottle thunked to the floor.
A door creaked.
We kill him and we put him in the incinerator. Her breath reeked of Parma Violets.
I blinked staring over her shoulder.
Alice stood in the middle of the room, clutching that section of pipe as if she was up to bat. HEY, UGLY!
The Rat Catcher turned, eyes narrow and dark. She opened her mouth and screamed through brown teeth, spit flying in the dim light.
Kill them all!
The pipe ripped through the air, battered into the side of her head. Hair and scraps of skin flew out in a spray of blood.
Her hands went slack around my throat, then she lurched sideways a couple of steps, then crashed to the floor like a fallen tree. Twitched a few times, then lay still, stretched full length, her eyes open, blood trickling out of her nose and mouth.
Alice dropped the pipe. It rang and clanged against the concrete, echoing through the little room. Is she? I didn t mean to It I didn t have any choice
I limped across the cluttered floor to Frank McKenzie. Held out my hand. Give me the gun.
He didn t even look at me. It s not Lisa s fault. It was Andrea It was always Andrea.
Give me the gun.
He held it up and stared into the barrel. Then pressed it against his temple. Closed his eyes. Hissed a breath out between his teeth, sending a shower of spittle down the front of his bloodstained shirt. Trembling. Crying.
I reached down and took the gun out of his hand.
Chapter 49
Frank McKenzie cradled his sister s battered head in his lap, stroking her blood-soaked hair. Shh It s all OK, it ll all be OK.
I slumped back against the sink. The gun felt like an anvil in my hand, pulling my arm out of its socket.
Alice shifted from foot to foot, both arms wrapped around herself.
I m sorry, I m so sorry
The gun weighed less in my pocket, but not much. You didn t take Katie?
He shook his head. We only ever took Andrea. All the girls were Andrea. A sniff, then he wiped a hand across his eyes, leaving a smear of dark red. She left us. She ran away and left Lisa and me alone with him. I was five
Ash, I didn t mean to kill her, I just wanted her to let you go.
I know. I held my arms open and Alice shuffled forwards into them, rested her head against my shoulder and cried.
She was our big sister, she was supposed to protect us. He leaned forwards and kissed the Rat Catcher s forehead. He hit Lisa so hard She was never the same; something came loose inside her head. She just wanted someone to love her.
