“Then we wait and see.” Bucky shrugged his shoulders. “Remember what Johnny said back at the stadium? Any man with two hands has a fighting chance? It’s true. How far have we travelled? We’ve survived wave after wave of encounters with infected people. We’ve survived a group of demented clowns and even a psycho killer from within our own group. We got stuck in the middle of six thousand crazies. We escaped a breach at the stadium. We’ve done more than anyone out there and we’ve survived. There’s no way we can’t get through this, not now.”
Lacey wiped a tear from her eye with an open palm before it could fall. “If that’s true, then why the hell can’t you sleep?”
Bucky stood, stretched and walked across to a window blind. He pulled the strings to allow the daylight in. “Over here. Look.” Lacey rose and wandered across to him. “Take a look out there.” The rain soaked windows revealed a dreary, overcast day outside. “Look across the field there. Do you see?” Lacey nodded. “That field backs onto our school football pitches. School is just there.”
“God damn we were so close.”
“No, Lacey, we are still so close. This has to be the last chapter in our story, and there must be a way that we can get there. We can’t go out now being so close to our destination and all. And one thing is for sure, I’m not going down without a fight.”
Lacey lifted her eyebrows. “What happened to you? Back in the shop you wouldn’t say boo to a goose and now your waging war on a gang of criminals?”
“I’m just fed up of this shit, Lacey. You started out strong, beating the infected with a cricket bat, then losing it over the incident with Lawro and Miss Greene. After that you grew strong again and remained that way ever since. I have confidence I can do it and I have confidence you can do it, too.”
The door unlocked and swung open. Seth strolled in followed by Adrian the baldy.
“Knock knock assholes,” Seth began as he entered. He grabbed Johnny’s legs, span them from the sofa to the floor and slumped down into the seat. “I came to tell you what is happening later.” He looked to Bucky and Lacey. “You two, come sit down. We got a lot to discuss.” They did as they were told without uttering a word. “Okay, kids, this is what we are doing. Tonight, at eight forty-five, you’re all streaming live to the world because, funnily enough, the internet is still working. It’s just the mobile networks that went down and no one thought that this virus outbreak was a conspiracy. Anyway, we’re streaming you live to the world where we are taking bets on each of you.” He shuffled on the leather. “Downstairs we have an old factory full of old tracks, machinery, that kind of thing. It was used to make plastic bottles back in the day. You are going to be at one side of the building. At the other will be a key. It doesn’t open any door we have here, it’s more of a symbol, the symbol of freedom. It’s the symbol of your freedom, so to speak. All you have to do is make it to the key and you win. Just one of you must take it, clasp it in your hand and we honour the agreement. You take that key and we escort you off the premises with an armed guard, drive you to the gates of your school and watch you disappear into the sunset. That is my honest word.”
“That’s it?” Bucky enquired. “That’s all we have to do? Just go in there and find a key?”
“That is all and nothing more. Everyone watching will be placing a bet on who gets there first. My accountant takes the money, sorts out the odds and all that, and I make the money. If you can win the game, I stand to earn a fortune, and if I do indeed make a fortune, that makes you four my best friends in world. You might even find yourselves entering the school gates with a few euros in your pockets to give you a start if you manage to make it off this hell hole of an island. Just do what I ask you. Reach that key and win your freedom.”
“And if we don’t?” Lacey asked.
Seth smiled. His rugged good looks distorted through the malevolence strewn across his face. “If you don’t, you won’t be worrying about it, put it that way. Okay, rest up, you have all afternoon. Adrian here will come get you when we’re ready.”
The black-suited man rose from the chair and left the room before turning back to them. “Don’t worry. You’ll all have an absolute blast,” he smirked.
* * *
Bucky spent the remains of the day pacing back and forth, banging the door to use the bathroom and racking his brain. He caught a few hours’ sleep at some point but felt no better for it when he’d awoken. The kids discussed everything, theorised what has going to happen and attempted to make a plan. Their ideas fell flat very quickly in the formulation, since they didn’t know what they were up against. It was eight forty-five when the door opened and a group of burley heavies escorted them through the building to the factory. Bucky’s nerves jangled, his mind ran away with the thought of a thousand ideas about what they were about to endure but somehow, he put them all aside and settled quicker than all the incidents he’d experienced beforehand. His head told him that this was it, it was the end, tonight he’d meet his maker, but his heart willed him on and told him to never back down. It was his heart that had the biggest influence over his thoughts. He needed to think on his feet. Something always presented itself in
