Shel studied him. Quiet. Stoic.
“I’m going to a place north of here. Morecambe. It’s a good place. A safe place. There’s good people there. People who can look out for us. Help us. You should... you should come with me. Join me there. You don’t have to keep on living the life you’ve been living. You can start again. We all can.”
Shel studied him further. Silent. Totally silent. Eyes piercing through him. Like she was trying to get a read on him. Trying to figure out whether to trust him.
And then she just shook her head and smirked. “Shit.”
Noah frowned. “What?”
“Hell,” she said. “Right then, I almost felt sorry for you.”
A shiver crept up Noah’s spine. “I don’t understand.”
“This place. Morecambe. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, buddy... but if that’s where your little girly is heading, she’s in deep shit. You both are.”
Noah went cold. “What—”
“It’s about time you learned a thing or two about the Reds,” she said. “And trust me, fella. When you find out about them, the bog-standard Society goons will be the least of your concerns.”
Chapter Thirty-One
It all happened so fast.
Iqrah saw the Society guard with the red stripe painted across his chest pull the trigger.
And then she felt a surge of energy bolt through her.
And then he froze.
He stopped. Stood totally still in his tracks.
His rifle lowered.
The rifles of the four guards either side of him lowered too.
They stood there. Eyes glazing over. Confusion covering their faces. Like they didn’t get what was happening. Like they didn’t understand.
And Iqrah felt tuned in to something, too.
Something familiar. But something that had previously felt so... distant. Something she thought she’d lost.
She felt more in touch with it right now than she had in a long time.
She looked at the man, the talker. Stared him in the eye. And she felt a deep anger within. First for what he’d done to Bruno, who she clutched in her arms. And then for what he’d said. Luring her in with talk of her parents. And then betraying her trust. Stabbing her in the back.
She felt that anger, that rage, burning within her.
And she tensed her fists.
The man’s eyes bulged.
His face went purple.
Thick dark blood pooled down his chin, covered his face, smeared his already red Society black with even more red.
She stared into his eyes and watched the guards beside him start to shake, too.
Saw them quiver as they tried to hold on to their rifles.
Saw their faces turn purple. Saw the blood vessels in their eyes bulge to bursting point.
She stood there and watched and felt attuned with that anger inside.
“This is for Bruno,” she said.
She tightened her left fist.
The heads of the guards on the left burst like fireworks.
Then the ones on the right.
The only one left standing was the talker.
She looked deep into his eyes. Tensed her jaw. Held her breath.
“And this is for Kirsty,” she said.
She tightened both fists.
Blood sprayed from the man’s nostrils, mouth, ears.
His face went black.
And then he burst like a cherry.
Blood and brains splattered against the walls.
And suddenly, in this dark alleyway, Iqrah felt totally at peace, and totally alone.
A weightlessness came over her.
The strength seeped from her body.
She fell to her knees, and as much as she tried to hold on to Bruno, as much as she tried to cling to him, he fell from her arms.
He yelped as he fell. Tried to stand, but limped around, unable to move as well as he used to. Sat down and stared at her with those big puppy eyes like he didn’t want to walk. Wagged his tail, but in a way that was desperate for some kind of help, some kind of relief. At least his bleeding leg didn’t look as bad.
“It’s okay,” she said, feeling herself drifting, slipping away. “Don’t worry, pup. It’s okay. I’m here.”
She crawled along the alleyway. Reached Bruno’s side. She tried to pick him up, tried to lift him. But it was no use. She was too weak before she’d had to tap into her abilities, and she knew it.
But she had to get out of this alleyway. She had to get away from here. She had to find somewhere safe to shelter, at least for now, at least until she could get back on the road again.
She thought of Noah. She wished he were here. She wished he could help.
She shuffled along the alleyway when she heard movement up ahead.
She lifted her head.
Heart racing.
Shadows.
Shadows moving towards the alleyway entrance.
Scuttling.
The hairs on her arms stood on end.
“No,” she whispered. “Please, no. Not now. Not...”
At the end of the alleyway, three infected appeared.
They stood there. Stared at her. Faces smeared with blood. One of them looked like he’d had half his scalp torn away, gnawed at.
They froze for a moment. Studied her. Tried to figure out if she was really there.
“Please,” she said.
And then they bolted down the alleyway towards her.
She closed her eyes.
Held on to Bruno.
She didn’t have the strength. She didn’t have the energy. She didn’t have anything left in her.
If she had to use her abilities again... if she had to tap into the virus again... she wasn’t sure she’d come out the other side.
But what else could she do?
She kept her eyes squeezed tight shut. Listened to the footsteps powering towards her. Knowing she had to do this. She had to focus. She had to take a risk.
She heard the footsteps and the snarls just inches from her, and she fell into that void.
She heard screeching in her head.
Her vision flashed with reds and whites and blues.
Her body was on fire.
And inside, she heard herself screaming.
She sank further and further and further into that anger.
She couldn’t get away from it.
She couldn’t fight it.
She couldn’t resist it.
She just had to keep on sinking.
Keep on falling.
Keep on...
A bang inside.
Darkness.
And then a warm squelchy sensation against her face.
She heard wind overhead. Smelled
