He was a vagrant once more, a poor man with nowhere to call home.
Lowering the gun, confused emotions rattling around in my brain, I heard an animal scream from where the tramp had left his belongings.
The blankets had risen, but only to half the height, to become another figure, their scream high, child-like. Their face wasn’t covered. Their golden blonde hair not under a hat. Their cries were not muffled and my head reacted, as did my fear, but in opposite directions as I pulled the trigger.
13
The trigger gave only a soft click. Engulfed with gratitude to the fates, I realised the bullet in my pocket must have been the last.
Empty of breath, I hurried the gun downward, looking to see if anyone had heard the tiny, metallic voice.
I was desperate to find if they knew what I'd got so close to doing. Their faces told me they had. It had been the only sound for miles.
“I'm so sorry,” I said over and over, not telling of what I thought I'd seen. I just watched as the girl ran to clutch around the waist of our stranger.
The figure's hand rose, pulling the scarf down to reveal a young woman, her face round, stretched with fear, her arms wrapped around the child's. The kid soon pulled away, looked back up, her face strong with balled features. Her gaze caught the pistol and I stuffed it back in my pocket, pushing out my hand and offering to help the young woman to her feet.
With breath still pluming hard to the air, she held back, kept her hand low and made no attempt to rise until Andrew rushed forward. He didn’t wait for an answer before he took her weight.
No one asked questions or put up any resistance as we helped the pair climb through the barricaded fire exit and into the relative warmth.
Andrew took the lead, trying his best to shield the view of Chloe still laid on the ground. He needn't have worried as the circle of three friends who'd remained stood to block any stranger, friend or foe, with crowbars and hammers held in their hands.
Only Naomi kept her grip solid on the handle of the claw hammer as the stranger's features clarified in the light.
I winced as I thought how much she would revel in the story about to be told.
To my surprise the events were not recounted by either of the pair. They were sisters, both too young to be anything else to each other, the woman having just left her teens, the kid only just turning double figures. Their features were almost a match, their long blonde hair and blue eyes glinting in the torchlight. It was only their height and definition in the cheeks which gave away the difference.
I overheard the whispered answers to slow questions fired their way as I knelt beside our patient. Their names were Cassidy, the eldest, and Ellie, the younger.
Chloe's body lay motionless and I feared the worst. Lily's blood-soaked fingers were no longer wrapped around the palm of the injured hand.
I dared not prompt the answer I desperately sought, but Lily seemed to understand and told me the bleeding had stopped only moments before.
I saw the first of the shallow breaths and for the first time today I felt a wash of happiness. Staying sat at her side I let myself relax, let the others disperse and gather more supplies.
After a hearty meal and with my shoulders wrapped in blankets, I felt an immense gratitude we'd found this place. A gratitude because we'd stumbled somewhere perfect to wait until the rescue party's arrival.
Dozing as I sat, head falling forward, I listened to Cassidy recount how their day had started.
“We got the call to evacuate in the early hours of the morning. Literally on the phone, an automated message telling us to ring the police if we needed to verify the call. The electricity had already gone by then and the phones went dead soon after. The radio was no help other than giving the same message, which didn't tell us what the hell was going on. We set off with my parents, but soon we were in tailbacks longer than we'd ever seen around here. After hours in traffic the Land Rover gave up about half way to the A30, so we hitched a lift on a bus already near bursting. We had to stand, huddled in the aisle right at the front.
“We came to the roadblock mid-morning. People were streaming from cars, just leaving their vehicles blocking the road so they could walk towards the head of the queue. When the driver disappeared out of his door, we had no choice. Everyone forced against us so they could rush between the parked cars. Dad was the first to spot a long line of coaches, one after another leaving the head of the roadblock. As we grew closer, we saw each already over-filled, with only two remaining and a long, wide line of people heading in their direction. It wasn't long before the panic started. A ripple of excitement ran through the crowds, leaving behind an urgency to get on one of those coaches.
“We tried to hold each other's hands, but it was near impossible. I ended up carrying Ellie most of the way. People were shouting. Elbows shoved out. Teeth baring like they were wild animals. We got separated from Mum and Dad as I tripped. I stumbled over an abandoned case or something. It took ages to battle back into the flow clutching Ellie, everyone rushing, pushing with their elbows out, surging forward like rabid creatures.
“Then came the gunshots.”
14
Her voice stopped as I looked up, my gaze catching on Cassidy's as I realised how much attention I'd been paying to her words.
Seeing me move,
