“Enough of the chit-chat,” he said ina Scottish accent. “We have work to do.”
He guided Bill out of the house, likea prisoner being arrested, and into the back of a pale blue Austin 1100 policecar. A uniformed officer sat beside him in the back, and another sat up frontin the passenger seat. Bill was shocked when he saw they were holding strangelooking rifles.
“Thousands of volts. Very quick atputting them to sleep,” said Inspector Ferret when he saw Bill staring.
The car sped off and made its waythrough the narrow streets of Middenmere.
The Inspector got on his police radioand said, “This is Tango Three Zero, have picked up Boffin 1. All Pandas torendezvous at Haymarket immediately.”
Bill gazed out of the window at thebuildings speeding past. He had no idea where he was or what these people hadplanned for him. All he wanted to do was escape and find his friends. But howwas he ever going to get back to Arthur? Was Ophelia at Brimstone Manor, underthe influence of that foul creature?
They stopped at traffic lights andBill looked sideways at the police officer sitting beside him. He was staringstraight ahead, jaw clenched, with a tight grip on his rifle, so Bill took theopportunity to reach out his arm and pull on the handle to the car door. Hisheart sank when he discovered it was locked.
As they approached a wide square thetraffic got heavier but Inspector Ferret didn’t slow down. He switched on thesiren and began dodging cars. Bill was buffeted around in his seat as the carswerved to and fro. He watched as a line of four police cars came into thesquare from another road and fall in behind them. As they headed out the squareBill could see they’d been joined by yet more police cars and a long line ofBlack Mariahs. By the time they’d navigated out of the suburbs of Middenmereand were travelling down a country lane they’d become a convoy.
It was now early evening but wasalready pretty dark, because of a low and oppressing blanket of cloud. Bill sawthe red glow of the sun low behind a line of trees and noticed a light rain hadbegun to fall. His mouth became dry with fear.
The police convoy entered Underwood.Bill pressed his face to the window and stared. There were people out theirhouses, some being chased, families attacking each other and people lyingunconscious by the roadside, their bodies red with blood. Bill could see halosof light everywhere he looked.
The convoy continued into the heart ofthe village and pulled to a halt in the square. There were more people here,lying unconscious or screaming as they were being bitten. Many were running orchasing others.
A young woman with chubby cheeks and amess of red hair, damp with rain, pounded her fist on the glass next to Bill.Her angry yellow eyes stared directly at him. She bared pointed teeth andpounded again on the window, so hard the glass smashed. Her arm shot into thecar and grabbed a shocked Bill around the throat and began to mumble a curse.She was very strong and Bill couldn’t stop her from pulling him towards hergaping mouth. He couldn’t breathe.
A policeman appeared behind her. Sheshouted angrily as he dragged her away from the car. Bill watched ingoggled-eyed shock, clutching his throat, as the policeman raised his rifle andtook aim. Something attached to the rifle by thin wires shot straight into herchest. She dropped to her knees and convulsed wildly. Bill saw her halo oflight flicker. She fell slumped to the floor and the policeman picked her upand threw her into the back of nearby Black Mariah.
“Nasty business, eh lad?” saidInspector Ferret.
Bill coughed and rubbed his throat.“Is she dead?”
“That gun’s a new invention from H.Q.Shoots ‘em with a few thousand volts but doesn’t kill ‘em.”
A fat jowly man in a white apron cameout of the butcher’s shop and began trotting towards them. He was red faced andangry. “Where are you taking my Jane? Get her out of that van!”
It was obvious the man wasn’t infectedbut he was heading straight towards the police officer with his fists clenchedand a dangerous look.
“She’s not a criminal,” he bawled.
The man started fighting with thepoliceman. Two other officers came over and tried to handcuff the man but hewas very strong.
“We haven’t got time for thisnonsense,” said Inspector Ferret. “We need to get that contraption of yours outof the Manor. Now which way is it?”
Bill indicated a road across thesquare. Inspector Ferret nodded then got on the police radio.
“This is Tango Three Zero. We’re goingfor the pickup. Van One to follow immediately.”
Bill looked out of the window and wasdumbfounded. Policemen were shooting their rifles at villagers and tossing theminto the vans. Friends and family, who Bill could see were still human, werescreaming and trying to stop the officers, but were being roughly pushed aside.Bill saw a policeman lying unconscious on the floor with blood around his faceand another was trying to fight off six pensioners.
Then the cursed bikers, who Bill hadseen up at the Manor, appeared in the square, riding their bikes in convoy.They drove straight past and circled the maypole, revving their engines loudly.When the bikers saw the police cars they stopped and got off their bikes. Billcould see that they were each carry a musket, which he recognised from thecollection displayed over the fireplace in the Great Hall.
“Oh no!” said Inspector Ferret.“They’re armed!”
“This is Tango Three Zero,” InspectorFerret shouted desperately into his radio. “We need reinforcements. Repeat –reinforcements. Devil’s Bane are armed, repeat, armed!”
A middle-aged woman fell on the carbonnet and screamed as her husband lunged over her and bit her face. TheInspector moved the car forward and swerved so they slid off. He spoke over hisshoulder to Bill, “They’re vicious little bleeders! It’s carnage! We need toget that cabinet and off to Trident House.”
The panda car was joined by a BlackMariah and they took the road that led out of the village and into Bogmire wood.Soon they were surrounded by dark trees as they followed the lane that led tothe Manor. In the rapidly fading
