“Oh, no, sorry. Just me.” The man knit his hands together, his smile twitching. “Were you hoping to meet up with someone here?”
Clare’s throat was tight, so she only nodded. She’d known Beth was gone. That had been obvious since the moment she stepped into the bunker and saw the pool of congealed blood saturating the floor. And despite all of that, she’d held on to the tantalising hope beyond all reason. Part of her wished she’d never been forced to find out the truth. She choked, and Dorran’s hand found her arm. Still, she refused to let herself cry.
“Ah, gee, wow. I’m sorry.” The infallible smile finally dropped. “Well, they might still be coming. Don’t give up hope. That’s the real killer in this world. You’ve got to stay optimistic, stay hopeful, no matter what, right? Heaven knows it’s been hard enough these past few weeks. Some days, I just wanted to sit down with a bottle of whiskey and let the despair eat me. But I knew someone had to come eventually. And you did. Here you are.” He folded his arms over his chest as the grin broke out anew. “You really came. Sorry—I still can’t get over it—”
Clare glanced up at Dorran. He met her gaze. His expression was placid. She recognised it—he’d worn the same face when she first arrived at Winterbourne. At the time, he’d seemed distant and cold. But now she knew better. He wasn’t calm—the opposite. He had no idea what to do or say when confronted with a stranger, and to compensate, his every movement and expression became guarded.
Clare took a slow breath to calm her heart. She had lost Beth. But Helexis Tower hadn’t been entirely a false hope. They were safe—at least for that moment. She made her tongue move. “Were you waiting for someone?”
“Well, no. I mean, I was. But not someone specific.” He bounced on his feet, his brown eyes switching between Clare and Dorran. “Anyone. Just someone who would hear me and brave the city. I knew it was a big risk. Not a lot of people would be prepared to try it. That’s why I had the loudspeakers and floodlight hooked up and ready. If I’d known you were coming, they would have been running sooner. I only realised you were out there when the hollows started screaming. Lucky I didn’t take a nap, huh? I guess you heard my message?”
Clare frowned. “Your message?”
“To know to come to the tower? Or were you in the city for another reason?”
“Um.” Another glance at Dorran. “Actually, we read the address. It had been scratched into a bunker wall. We had no idea what we would find here.”
He chuckled. “Unorthodox. But hey, it worked, I guess? You came here, and that’s all I’d hoped for.”
A low, soft chattering noise came from behind Clare. She flinched and swivelled. At the same time, Dorran put a hand out and swept Clare behind himself. The room remained empty.
“It’s okay! Don’t worry!” The man lowered his voice and extended both hands, palm out, as though trying to pacify them. “They’re outside. They can’t get in. At least, they haven’t so far.”
Dorran slowly relaxed his guard. The scratching sounded closer than it was. Clare would have thought having covers over the windows would be comforting, but in reality, it left her feeling unsettled. She hated not being able to see the hollows. How many there were. How close they were. The chattering was growing louder. She suspected most of the dispersed creatures were returning now that the radio and spotlight were off.
“I’m sorry, I’m doing a really awful job as a host, aren’t I?” The man broke into a nervous chuckle. “I’m Peter. Dr Peter Wiesner.”
Clare finally pulled her eyes away from the shrouded windows. “Doctor?”
“One of the theoretical ones. Not a medical doctor, I’m afraid.”
“Oh. Uh, I’m Clare. And this is Dorran.”
“Pleasure to meet you.” Peter loped forward, hand outstretched, and shook Clare’s then Dorran’s. His fingers were warm and shaking. From nerves or excitement, Clare wasn’t sure. “Look at you; you’re drenched. You must be freezing. And probably exhausted and hungry too. Let’s go upstairs. It’s going to be a lot more peaceful than down here. And I can get you some dry clothes. Nothing glamorous, but it’ll be better than what you have.”
Clare gave Dorran a final glance, checking he was happy to travel deeper into the tower. He was already watching her, waiting for her decision. He sent her a small smile, and Clare returned it. Peter was already moving towards the reception desk, so they followed.
“Hey, Peter…” Clare wrapped her arms around her chest as they crossed the vast, sparsely decorated foyer. “What is this place?”
Peter stopped beside the reception, where he’d set up his laptop. He took a moment to power it down then slowly turned to face them, fingers knit, smile unsteady. “Well… it used to house a lot of businesses. It was a bit of a hub. But it holds a special significance for the current state of the world. I guess you’d call it ground zero.”
Clare faltered. “You mean…”
“Yeah. It all originated here. The stillness, the monsters…” Peter took a breath and pulled a smile back onto his face with obvious effort. “I’ll tell you everything. But let’s get you somewhere safe and warm first. Follow me.”
Chapter Forty-Three
As Peter picked up the laptop, a loud, screeching wail echoed from outside the building. The front door rattled, and Peter tucked the laptop under one arm. “You don’t need to worry. The tower’s secure. Well, relatively. There are some hollows inside, but they’re all locked in rooms. Those guys on the street don’t ever leave, but when you get to the upper floors, you can’t really hear them much
