there was like a black hole.
‘Gav… ’
Cam stood back to let Gav see. Gav drew level. The two of them in the cramped kitchen filled it, made the place seem claustrophobic. Gav shone the torch into the dark stairwell. The two of them looked at other.
‘Go on then,’ said Gav, licking his lips.
Dry from the steroids, thought Cam. Or fear.
Cam opened his mouth, wanted to complain, but knew it would be no use. Putting his hand out to steady himself against the wall, he began to make his way downwards.
The wall was clammy, cold. He felt damp flaking plaster and paint beneath his palm. The steps creaked as he placed his feet on them, felt soft at times.
He reached the bottom. Felt hard-packed earth beneath his boots, a low ceiling above his head. The smell was worse down here; corruption allied to a pervasive dampness that made his skin itch and tingle unpleasantly.
He crouched and looked round. Saw shadow on shadow. Behind him, Gav started to move down the stairs, swinging the beam of his torch as he did so. Cam caught flashes of illumination, made out something at the far end of the cellar.
‘What… what’s that?’ He pointed. Gav stopped descending, stayed where he was on the stairs.
‘What’s what?’
‘Over there, it’s… ’
Something glimpsed in the beam’s swinging light. Quickly, then gone. A construction of some sort, criss- cross.
And behind it, within it, some kind of movement.
‘Come on,’ said Gav, ‘let’s get out of here.’
‘Just a minute.’ Cam surprised himself with the strength in his voice. His heart was hammering, blood pounding round his body, but fear or no fear, he wanted to know what he had seen.
‘What d’you mean, just a minute? Come on, we’re goin’.’
‘Wait.’ Cam’s voice, stronger now. ‘Point the torch over there, in the corner.’
‘Why?’ Panic creeping into Gav’s voice now.
‘Because there’s something over there.’
Gav, grumbling, reluctantly did so. The beam illuminated a cage, built into one whole wall of the cellar. The bars were the colour of stained teeth, tied together with what looked like strips of old leather.
‘Jesus… ’ Gav tried to back away, found he couldn’t move. ‘A cage… What’s… what’s a cage doin’ down here?’
Cam didn’t answer. He didn’t know the answer. Fascinated, he started to move towards it.
‘Where you goin’?’
‘Just… I saw something… ’ Cam kept walking. Slowly. ‘Keep the torch pointed at the cage. Let me see… ’
Something moved in the corner. Shifted. A shadow with substance and bulk.
‘There’s somethin’ in there… ’ Gav, no longer hiding the fear in his voice.
Cam stopped walking. Stood rooted to the spot, staring. He glanced round, back to Gav.
‘Keep the torch there.’
Cam reached the cage. Extended a hand, touched it. The smell was worse in this corner. Animal waste, plus corruption. The bars themselves stank. Cam leaned in close, smelled them. Like old bones in a butcher’s shop.
He froze.
Old bones. That was exactly what they were.
‘Come on! I’m goin’.’
The beam wavered as Gav turned, indicated the way back upstairs.
‘Give me a minute,’ Cam shouted back.
‘I just want to-’ He didn’t get to say what he wanted to do. With a clanking rattling of chains, the thing in the cage sprang at the bars, roaring. It grabbed Cam by the arm, the neck.
Cam screamed, tried to pull away. Couldn’t. The grip was too strong.
He tried to shout for Gav to help him, but the words came out as one solid block of noise.
The pain increased. He looked down, saw that the thing in the cage had sunk its teeth into his arm.
Cam screamed even louder.
Suddenly he was in the dark. Gav had left him, run back up the stairs, taking the torch with him.
Cam felt the teeth bite further into his arm, accompanied by a snarl, like a hungry dog feasting. He grabbed his own neck, felt fingers digging in, tried to prise them away.
The snarling increased.
Cam pulled harder on the fingers. Felt something snap.
An animal howl of pain. The grip on his arm loosened slightly.
He pulled another finger back. Heard another snap.
The grip on his arm slackened, the pain eased.
Realising that he wouldn’t get another chance, Cam pulled as hard as he could. His neck was freed, then his arm. Not bothering to look behind him, he ran for the stairs.
All the way up, not caring if they gave way underneath him, just desperate to be out of the house.
Then, once upstairs, straight through the kitchen, the main room and out of the door.
And running.
As far away from the house as possible.
Because, before Gav had taken the torch and run, Cam had seen what was there.
A child. A feral child.
In a cage of bones.
3
Faith ran.
Through the trees, into the forest. Squinting at the sudden daylight, pushing herself as hard as she could, running as fast as she was able. The ground hard and uneven beneath her bare feet, her chest hammering. Arms windmilling wildly, breath barked out in ragged, harsh bursts. Anything to gain momentum, move faster.
Get away from
Escape from
She ran on. Not knowing where she was going, not stopping to think. This way and that. Wherever there was a clearing between the trees, a space large enough to force herself through, she went. Just trying to put as much distance as possible between herself and…
Him.
Her feet were cut by branches and stones, the soles searing anew with pain each time she landed them hard on the forest floor. Branches and vines slapped at her. Stung. Brambles and thorns tore at her skin, tried to slow her down, pull her back. Claim her for the forest. She ignored them, fought them off. Told herself she felt nothing. No pain, no agony. She would have time for that later. Once she had put distance between herself and…
Faith reached a clearing, slowed down. Hands on thighs, bent double, head down, she gulped in air as hard as she could. No good. She tried, but her body couldn’t do it. Her lungs were burning, seared, but not big enough to take in the amount of air she needed. She cursed herself for being so unfit. For smoking and drinking and not taking any exercise. A pleading mantra ran through her head:
Eyes screwed tight shut, she concentrated.
She saw Ben in her mind’s eye. Her son. Smiling at her. Like an image from a different world. She’d left Donna to look after him. Gone to work.
And how had she got from there to here? How had she got into this? How? She knew. She had thought she had
