‘The phone is ringing,’ said Tina. But no one took any notice of her or the phone.
‘Isn't anyone going to answer it?’ she yelled, panic rising.
Still, no one responded.
Tina jumped to her feet and grabbed the phone, placing it to her ear. Then with a yelp, she dropped the receiver.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound echoed from the dropped receiver.
Crack! Crack!
‘John!’ cried Tina. ‘It's him!’
John wrenched himself free of Mr Burrows and rushed to Tina's side.
‘We've got to get out of here,’ said Tina.
‘You're not going anywhere,’ said Mr Burrows.
‘Except back to school,’ added Mr Hayes.
John took hold of Tina's hand, giving it a little reassuring squeeze and calmly led her to the still open front door.
‘Where do you think you're going?’ demanded Mrs Hayes.
But John and Tina didn't answer. They walked out of the house and into the rain.
‘We'll call the police!’ Mr Burrows yelled after them. ‘Then you'll be sorry.’
As the rain grew heavier, John and Tina picked up their pace, from a walk to a jog, and then to a run.
They ran and ran, away from everything, not even knowing where they were going.
17: On the Run
‘Stop!’ called Tina, slowing down. ‘I can't run any more. I need to rest.’
John also ground to a halt. ‘Just a little bit further,’ he said, pointing to the monstrous concrete and glass building up ahead. ‘Then we can get out of the rain.’
They jogged at a slower pace, through the expansive car park, until they were under the awning at the front of a huge multi-storey shopping mall.
A woman with a small child on one arm and an umbrella clutched in her other hand, came running from her car. She stopped under the awning, put her child down and folded up her umbrella, giving it a little shake as she did so. Then she noticed John and Tina, wet, bedraggled and shivering. She gave a little gasp, snatched up her child and rushed into the mall, giving them a wide berth.
‘Maybe the mall's not such a great idea,’ ventured Tina.
‘I think we'll be better off where there are lots of people. At least for the moment.’
John headed for the high glass doors, which swished open automatically as he approached, letting out a comforting gust of warm air. Tina glanced down at her soggy shoes. At that moment, a scrap of newspaper blew across the pavement in front of her. It momentarily rested at her feet before continuing on its journey. But in that split second, Tina saw a face staring up at her — a fat face with an evil grin. She watched the piece of newspaper as it was carried off by the wind, momentarily shaken.
‘Coming?’ called John from inside.
‘Yeah,’ she answered, as she went in to join him, still looking back at the scrap of newspaper blowing away into the car park.
The mall was filled with people rushing about, doing their shopping in the dozens of stores that lined the long ground-floor arcade. As they walked across the court, thankful to be out of the rain, the shoppers parted before them, hurrying to get away. They were met with suspicious stares and sideways glances as people quickened their pace to move away from the bedraggled pair.
‘Why are they staring at us like that?’ asked Tina. ‘It's raining outside. Is it so weird that we're wet?’
‘Everything around here is going weird,’ said John. ‘People staring at us is the least of our problems.’
Tina gazed over John's shoulder, eyes wide.
‘What's the matter now?’
‘The Fat Man,’ she said, pointing to the television set in an electronics store window. ‘On the TV.’
John whirled around to look. But it was just the news.
‘He
‘Well, he's not there now,’ said John, as they approached the window.
And then his eyes widened.
‘But we are!’
They stared in through the window, where the screen was filled with a photo of the two of them. Then they were gone, replaced by a reporter speaking to a police officer. They were standing outside a grey building decorated with a colourful mural.
‘That's our school,’ said Tina. ‘The police are at our school. And the news is showing pictures of us.’
They looked up from the screen to see the shopkeeper scowling at them through the glass door, as he spoke urgently into a telephone.
‘Come on,’ said John. ‘We better get out of here.’
They started back for the mall entrance. But through the glass doors, they saw a police car pulling up outside.
‘Now what?’ asked Tina, as they stopped.
‘Back inside,’ said John, turning around and heading further into the mall.
‘If only I had my knives and stars,’ whispered Tina.
John looked at her quizzically.
‘There they are,’ shouted the woman with the child and the umbrella. She stood by the glass doors, pointing at John and Tina, while trying to get the attention of the police outside.
‘Up!’ called John, heading for the bank of escalators leading to the four floors above them. Then he spotted a narrow corridor to the side of the first escalator and changed direction. ‘No, this way.’
He ducked down the narrow corridor. John shouldered open a door marked STAFF ONLY which ultimately led to a loading bay with a service entrance.
There was a truck parked in the deserted loading bay. They dashed across to a half-closed roller door and peered outside. An armoured riot squad was marching in formation seemingly oblivious to the pounding rain. Each member carried a holstered pistol and a drawn shimmering sword. John and Tina ducked back.
‘This isn't right,’ said John. ‘Things are … are changing. It's like bits of our world are coming through into here. First the princeling, then the Cracker. And now people carrying swords. No one around here carries swords, not even police.’
‘It's the Fat Man.’ Tina nervously tugged at her lower lip, where a metal stud should have been. ‘Somehow, he's behind all this.’
‘He's dead,’ said John firmly. ‘It can't be him.’
‘Maybe this is a trap,’ continued Tina. ‘Something he set up before he died. Just in case we won that other game.’
‘No!’ insisted John. ‘It's probably the Cracker or that damn princeling.’
John ducked down under the door again, to glance out. The last group of police, being led by a man in a grey suit, disappeared into the mall.
‘All clear,’ said John. ‘And the rain's stopped. Let's go!’
They dashed out into the car park and crouched down behind the nearest car. Then, vehicle by vehicle, they made their way across the sea of cars. They were about to run out from behind the final car, when someone blocked their way.
‘Found you!’
