And now here they were. Still alive. Bruno in her arms. A bandage around his leg. But still not out of the woods at all.
Getting closer and closer to Morecambe, where her parents were.
She looked back over her shoulder. One last time, hoping to see him standing there in the middle of the road, following them. Imagined the delight she’d feel. The relief she’d feel. The joy.
But when she looked back, there was nobody there.
No life. Nothing but abandoned cars. Dusty streets. Smashed windows and a distant haze.
She sighed and turned back around.
They reached the end of this town. Kirsty stopped. Looked left and right. She froze for a few seconds like she was really thinking about the next step. And it made Iqrah feel weird. Like she didn’t totally know where she was going. What she was doing.
“Kirsty?” Iqrah asked.
Kirsty looked around. “What?”
“It’s a left. That’s what the map said.”
Kirsty nodded really quickly. Then she half-smiled. “Yeah. Left. Sure. Come on.”
She turned around far too quickly for Iqrah’s liking. Walked off ahead, down the street. Which was weird because she’d always been so keen on staying close to Iqrah up to now.
It was like something was wrong.
Something was bothering her.
“Is everything okay?” Iqrah asked.
Kirsty nodded. “It’s all good. It’s just… all this. Everything. It—it’s just really getting to me, you know?”
Iqrah nodded back. “Yeah. I know. But we’re… It’s like you said. We’re here. We’re together. And we’re going to find my mum and dad. We’re going to find them, and everything’s going to be okay. Right?”
Kirsty looked around at Iqrah, right into her eyes.
And once again, Iqrah saw that look. That glance.
A look like something wasn’t quite right.
“Everything is going to be okay,” Iqrah said. “Right?”
Kirsty opened her mouth and went to speak.
And then she closed it.
Nodded.
Smiled.
“Of course it is, lovely,” she said. “Of course it is.”
She reached over and wrapped her arms around Iqrah. Squeezed her, tight.
“Now come on,” she said. “Let’s get moving. We’re getting closer.”
When she turned around, Iqrah caught a glance of her face.
For a moment, she swore she saw tears in Kirsty’s eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Kirsty held on to Iqrah as tight as she could and tried to fight back the tears.
But knowing the truth and trying to maintain this caring, loving front wasn’t so easy.
Not when she knew what she was going to have to do.
She felt Iqrah’s warmth against her and squeezed her eyes shut. Iqrah might be in her late teens, but she was petite. And there was a childishness about her. An innocence about her. A naivety about her.
And that childishness reminded her of somebody.
Her boy. Her little Bertie.
And how much she missed him.
How much she’d do—how far she’d go—to get him back.
She tasted bitterness in her mouth and swallowed a phlegmy lump in her throat. She knew she needed to keep her composure. Knew she couldn’t lose her cool. Especially not around Iqrah. Because she was supposed to be strong for Iqrah. She was supposed to keep her shit together for Iqrah.
But how could she keep her shit together when she knew the truth?
How could she keep her shit together when she knew what she had to do?
She moved away from Iqrah. Looked away immediately and at the road ahead. She swore she saw Iqrah catch a glance of her, of the tears rolling down her cheeks. Of the pain in her eyes. And she wished she could confide in Iqrah. She wished she could tell her everything. She wished she understood.
But the truth was, she’d done the worst possible thing to Iqrah. Committed the worst possible crime. The worst breach of trust.
She’d lied.
She’d lied about everything.
And that tore her up inside.
She walked further down the road. Smelled the blood of the dog clinging to her shirt. And that just made her even more guilty. Because Noah. She’d had a moment with him last night. No point denying it. She’d felt a closeness. She’d felt an attraction. She liked him, and she was pretty sure he liked her, too.
But he wouldn’t like her if he knew what her game was.
If he knew exactly what she was there at the Blackpool promenade for.
If he knew her purpose.
Because it wasn’t just the Society out there with Noah and Iqrah on their minds.
There were others, too.
Others who knew about them. About what they were capable of. About the power they held.
The Reds.
And they would do everything to get their hands on what they believed was the key to ending this infection, once and for all.
Or controlling it.
Because Iqrah and Noah were power to them. And with a bargaining chip like those two—with the research they’d done on them, with the antidotes they could create—they could rule the new world and bring the Society to their knees.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Kirsty heard Iqrah’s voice, and she stopped. Her heart thumped. Tears streamed down her face. She knew she couldn’t look around at Iqrah. She knew she couldn’t tell her the truth.
Because what did she tell her?
Her parents weren’t alive at all?
That they were dead? Brutally slaughtered by a rogue off-shoot group of the Society? A branch packed with scientists, determined to capture Noah and Iqrah for themselves?
A group who only left her and Bertie alive.
They told Kirsty to wait in Blackpool. To wait there until Noah and Iqrah arrived, then lure them to some supposed safe haven with promises of a brighter future.
Was that what she was supposed to tell Iqrah? Really?
Or could she do the right thing?
“Kirsty?”
She looked around.
Iqrah peered up at her. Fear in her wide eyes.
“Why are you crying?”
Kirsty opened her mouth to speak. She wanted to tell Iqrah the truth. She wanted to so desperately tell her about what she’d done. She wanted to change things.
And a naive part of her hoped that now Noah was in Society custody… maybe things would be different. Maybe they’d forgive her if she only took Iqrah back. Because that was something, right?
