“Try not to break an ankle,” said Tom sarcastically, which meant he was stressed. He was only ever bitchy when he was under pressure.
Brett rolled his eyes. “Ryan, go kick his posh arse for me.”
“Will do.” Ryan helped Brett get back upright, making sure he was steady on the rocks, then he resumed his climb, feeling bad about leaving his injured friend slightly behind, but more worried that his younger brother was on top of the hill with only Sean as company. What on earth had they found up there?
Tom was the next to make it to the top, but he didn’t add his voice to Sean’s or Aaron’s, which was worrying. Was he shocked into silence by what he saw? In contrast, Loobey made it up a few minutes later and immediately started shouting. “Holy shit!”
Ryan climbed faster. His guts churned, and he couldn’t work out whether it was from excitement or fear. Something was clearly on top of the hill, but he had no idea what. The only way to know was to climb. So that was what he did.
He made it to the top in less than two minutes, hands chafed and scratched from the jagged rocks. His left knee was throbbing. Despite his wounds, he straightened up quickly and found his mates in a huddle, facing away from him.
Ryan limped forward, glad when Aaron turned around and saw him. “Ryan, you need to see this.”
“What is it?” He joined the others and got a look at the thing that had captured all of their attention. Again, he asked, “What is it?”
“We have no idea,” said Aaron, “but it’s cool.”
“D’you think this is what caused the earthquake?” asked Loobey, staring down at the strange black object. It was shaped like a spiral – a giant corkscrew. Its black surface appeared metallic and wet, but there had been no rain. Deeply lodged into the ground, it rose six feet into the air before them, widening at the top.
“It must have fallen from a plane,” said Tom. “Perhaps from the plane itself, or from some kind of cargo it was carrying.”
“It looks like farming equipment to me,” said Loobey. He pulled a bottle of water from the deep pocket of his coat and took a swig. “Or an oil drill or something. I bet it weighs a tonne.”
“Try ten,” said Brett. “It’s huge.” He had reached the top of the hill and was now limping to join them.
Tom looked around like he expected to see something coming their way, but there was nothing but stars and half a moon. “Perhaps an oil rig exploded. They have a great many of them off the Scottish coast, I understand.”
“Yeah,” said Sean. “The Jocks are always banging on about their oil. Should’ve let ’em leave the union if you ask me.”
Ryan frowned at Sean. “Seriously? Politics? Now?”
“I reckon it’s a secret weapon,” said Aaron, his eyes wide and beaming in the moonlight. “Maybe the military launched it as a test.”
Tom frowned. “Not much of a weapon. It only managed to knock a picture off the wall.”
Aaron shrugged. “Who knows what it does. Could be a radar or something. Maybe it digs into the ground and explodes later.”
Everyone exchanged nervous glances.
“Whatever it is,” said Tom. “I think we’re best off leaving it alone.”
“Do we report it?” asked Loobey. “Should we call the police?”
“We’d have to go into the village,” said Ryan. He looked at his watch. “It’s nearly eleven.”
“No one is calling the Old Bill,” said Sean. “It’s just a chunk of metal in the ground. Look!”
Everyone gasped at what Sean did next. He grabbed a section of the black corkscrew and shoved, locking his jaws tightly as he fought to move it – but it didn’t give an inch.
Tom shook his head. “Sean, for Heaven’s sake, get down.”
“Oh, shut yer gob.” Everyone gasped again as Sean leapt up onto the corkscrew, clambering almost to its top. From four feet up, he threw his arms out wide like some coked-up Christ. “See? Nowt to worry about.”
Ryan had visions of Sean falling and cracking his skull. That would put an end to the weekend before it even began. “Get down, you idiot.”
Sean stopped his frolicking and seemed hurt. He hopped down from the massive corkscrew and tutted. “Why am I the only one trying to have a laugh?”
Ryan sighed. “I just don’t want you to get hurt, okay? It’s the middle of the night and it’s dangerous up here. We don’t know what this thing is, so we’re best just leaving it alone. I’ll tell the landlord about it when we leave here on Sunday.”
Sean eyed him suspiciously. “You’ll leave it until then? No grassing till the weekend’s over?”
Ryan promised. “Like you said, it’s just a chunk of metal. It’s probably been here for years. We don’t even know for sure it’s what caused the ground to shake.”
“Well, if it isn’t,” said Aaron, zipping up his light jacket and giving a shudder, “something else caused it.”
“I don’t even care any more,” said Loobey. He was sweating and panting. “I just want to get back indoors in front of that nice warm fire.”
“Don’t be nesh,” said Sean. “It ain’t even that cold.” He reached out to shove Loobey, but Loobey leapt back and gasped.
“Whoa, what the hell is on your hands, man?”
Sean stopped and raised his palms. They were stained dark by something but appeared silvery when they caught the moonlight. He turned around to face the corkscrew and sneered. “Sodding thing’s covered in something. Me ’ands are well rank.”
“You can clean off at the cottage,” said Ryan. “Come on, let’s just get back inside before anyone else gets hurt.”
Sean swiped at Loobey again, trying to smear him with the substance on his hands, but Loobey dodged away again, this time only narrowly avoiding the attack. His bottle of water fell on the ground and emptied at his feet, soaking the stony grass. “Get away, man. I don’t want that
