This all has to make sense somehow. It’s 2020, not the Dark Ages. Doctors can treat everything.
Aaron looked towards the door. “Should we make a plan first?”
“It’s going to get dark,” said Ryan. “There’s no way we’ll be able to find our way back to the village in the dark. Even in the car, we’d lose the road and end up in a ditch. The odds are the same whatever time we leave, so we might as well get it over with. The plan is to run for the car and get in as quickly as we can.”
“Wait?” said Brett. “Do we even have keys?”
Ryan patted his pockets, even though he knew he didn’t have them. The only keys in his pocket were those the landlord had given him, a small bundle on a Scottish flag keyring, along with his own personal car keys. “Tom must have them. Damn it.”
“It’s unlocked,” said Loobey. “Brett and I were checking the engine earlier, remember? The driver’s door is still unlocked from when Tom opened it last night manually with the key. The auto locking is as dead as the engine.”
“What about the other doors?” asked Ryan.
Loobey shrugged. “Never checked ’em. Hopefully they will be.”
Ryan moved over to the front door and peered out of the broken window. “I don’t see Sean. No animals either. Are we ready to do this?”
“No,” said Loobey, “and that ain’t gonna change.” He pulled himself up off the sofa, stretched and flexed. “But what choices do we have?”
Ryan sighed. “None.”
“Then let’s go.”
Ryan placed his hand on the door handle.
Chapter Nine
Everyone put on their coats and gathered at the door, none of them happy. Ryan checked his watch. The sun was going to start setting soon. They had to do this now or they would be trapped inside the cottage until morning. As he clutched the door handle, Ryan wondered if he was making contact with the fungus. Brett had said it could live on almost any surface. Had Brett touched the door handle? Had Sean?
Sean let himself out this morning. His hand must have touched the handle.
Aaron looked at him. “You all right, Ryan?”
“Yeah, just taking a minute. Everyone ready?”
They all nodded.
“Then let’s begin.” Ryan opened the front door and hurried out onto the gravel driveway. There he stood, searching left and right. No sign of Sean or the animals. Tom’s car was still parked nearby. The coast was clear.
Ryan turned back and grabbed Brett, despite his protests, and helped him to walk. He winced with every step, but they had no choice but to move quickly. Each second was a hypodermic needle injecting more and more anxiety into Ryan’s veins. Sean must be out there somewhere, watching them, stalking them. He wouldn’t have just walked away. His promise to kill them had seemed too genuine.
In a group, they hurried towards the car, their footsteps unavoidably crunching on the gravel. The Stelvio’s sleek bonnet was still propped up, so Ryan told Loobey to drop it. He did as he was asked, knocking away the prop and letting the lid dropped down with a loud clonk. Everyone winced.
“You idiot!” Ryan said through gritted teeth.
Loobey blushed. “Sorry, our kid.”
Shaking his head, Ryan grabbed the driver’s side door handle. Mercifully, the door opened without argument. He quickly bundled Brett inside, glad to be free from the burden of his weight. Aaron dodged by him and tried the rear passenger door. The handle sprung out but the door stayed shut. “It’s locked.”
“Damn it.”
Loobey moved to the other side of the car and tried the front passenger door. “Same here. Brett, lean over and pull the—”
Ryan registered movement from an unexpected place. He looked upwards, expecting to see a bird, but instead he saw Sean, crouched on the high-pitched roof that sheltered the front door. His legs straddled the peak on either side. His face had now fallen away completely, leaving behind a bare brown-stained skull. Both his eyes were balls of green fuzz. His mouth was an empty maw, barely any teeth remaining. Ryan tried to grab Loobey, but the bonnet was between them. “Loobey, move!”
Loobey clearly had no idea why Ryan was shouting, but the urgency was enough to communicate danger. He leapt back from the car, knowing only that he needed to be somewhere else. It was enough to move him out of harm’s way.
Sean came crashing down against the side of the car’s bonnet, fists thumping into the painted steel and making two deep dents. When Loobey realised his near miss, he staggered back on his heels, moving away from Sean as fast as he could.
Then he tripped and fell.
Sean turned and opened his skeletal jaws, releasing a cascade of soaking wet bugs.
Not thinking, Ryan leapt onto the bonnet and used the added height to kick Sean’s lumpen skull like a soccer ball. He might have been a monster, but the ferocious impact was enough to send him sprawling on the gravel driveway. Wasting no time, Ryan raced to the other side of the car and gathered Loobey to his feet. “Come on, mate, get in the car.”
Brett was already reaching over to unlock the passenger door, and when Ryan yanked on the handle, it opened. He got Loobey inside and slammed the door, before searching for his brother. Aaron was yanking at the rear handle, yelling at Brett to let him in.
Sean leapt back on his feet. Somehow his arms had elongated and now ended with single sharp talons. There was no time to wait for Loobey or Brett to clamber over the seats and unlock the rear doors. Sean would be on them in seconds.
Ryan took a step in the direction of the cottage’s front door, but Sean dashed in front of him, seeing him through the fuzzy masses filling his eye
