I RAN OUT the front door of Snale’s house, stumbled, caught myself and rushed to the passenger-side door of the four-wheel drive with my arms full of the bag. Snale was standing on the lawn not far away, her face twisted in anguish. Kash stood dazed, his hands by his sides. The bag in my arms was spewing items. I dumped it on the passenger-side seat. The kid was wide-eyed, teeth chattering, his legs drawn up and arms gripping the ceiling of the car. Shock and terror.
‘Zac, slide this between your legs. Don’t get up until it’s on the seat,’ I stammered. ‘I … I think it’s heavy enough. I think …’
I remembered seeing a loose house brick by the front door. Zac grabbed the bag. I turned towards the house, stepped back, already twisting, already seeing the brick in my hand, only metres away.
I heard the timer scream.
Chapter 69
HE WAS BEHIND her. Right behind her – his fingers tangled in the very ends of her hair, yanking some of it free. Caitlyn ran through the labyrinth of halls searching for light, seeing only boarded-up windows and locked and barred doors. What floor were they on? What time of day was it? A part of her frantic brain throbbed with denial that any of this was real. She had dreamed so many times of escape. Part of her wanted to stop pushing her body, lie down, give in, wake again in the cellar room where she belonged. Her whole life outside the room had been a dream. She had no mother, no job, no apartment. She’d been born in these dark depths. She needed to stop fighting.
The exhaustion was hard to push back as she reached the stairs, a mountain of chipped and splintered wood reaching into more dark space. Just as she leapt forwards, he grabbed her ankle, yanked her down. Her chin hit the bottom stair hard, cracking her teeth. Caitlyn grabbed one of the banister rails and it snapped free in her hand. It was light, rotten and damp, but she threw it anyway, causing him to release his hold. She hurled herself up the stairs and turned right, no idea where it might lead.
Caitlyn’s only terror now was running into a dead end. If she was cornered, she knew she would not be able to fight on. Already her knees and hips were aching, threatening to fail. She could hear him breathing, looked back and saw no one there. She tried a door and found it locked. He must be circling around to find her, using another set of stairs. Caitlyn screamed for help, banging on doors. The rain was leaking through the ceiling here. She shoved hard against a door and fell into the wet street.
The light was blinding. Caitlyn crawled towards the blurry, distant road, trying to find the breath to scream. People were there, walking back and forth, streaks of colour in her ruined vision. She called out, but no one turned. Her voice was gone.
She felt a hard hand encircle her arm and yank her backwards.
Chapter 70
THE STREET WAS flooded with people. I was aware first of voices shouting and footsteps hammering the earth nearby, hands on my body, dragging me, pulling me, lifting my head. I was trapped in a dream, being ravaged by a mob. I opened my mouth and tried to draw air but my ribs felt flattened.
I lay assessing my injuries. I’d hit the back of my head hard. My left radius was broken. And if I didn’t get some air soon, I’d be able to add collapsed lungs to my list. I opened my eyes and watched the stars turning around and around against the blackened sky until Kash’s face interrupted them. There was a hose in his hand.
His big hand was on my head. I realised he was hosing me. I could feel the cold water rushing down my shoulders and over the backs of my arms. My clothes were drenched.
‘It’s only flash burn,’ he was saying. ‘Don’t worry. You’re fine.’
‘Zac,’ I coughed. I tried to sit up. The four-wheel drive was on fire. People were standing all around it, their mouths open and eyes wide in the dark, watching the flames four, five metres high. The roof of the vehicle was twisted backwards like the lid of a tin can, the doors nowhere to be seen.
‘Don’t move.’ Kash tried to force me down. ‘You were thrown quite a distance. You could have a spinal injury.’
‘Is he in there?’ I asked. Kash didn’t answer. ‘Did the kid make it out?’
More voices above me. The grass beneath me felt cool, welcoming, its soft green fingers reaching up over my wrists, dragging me down. I let my head loll to the side, looked at the crowd around the car lit by the flames. Gold masks.
At the edge of the gathering, nearest to me, I could make out Jace Robit and a slender woman, his wife, in her nightgown. A tall, shaggy friend of Jace’s joined him, and then came the other two and their wives. Jace nudged his friend in the ribs and pointed to the car. Stuck out his hands, as though warming his palms, his face cracking with a grin.
Chapter 71
‘I’VE GOT YOU,’ the man growled, heaving Caitlyn up from the ground, a helpless bundle in his thick arms. ‘I’ve got you now, love.’
Caitlyn was so exhausted. Her head fell back against the man’s arm and she looked up at him. Shaggy blond hair, a hard face with dark, tired eyes. He was running with her, glancing back towards the building as he made for the street. ‘I’ve got her! Get a medic!’
‘Where is he?’ she asked. ‘Is he … Is he …’
‘I don’t know,’ the man said. ‘But he’s not here, and that’s all you need to know. I’m police. You’re safe with me. We’ll get the prick, don’t you worry about that.’
‘I killed a man,’ Caitlyn whispered. Sleep was pulling at her. There were people all around them now, faces appearing at the man’s shoulders as they pushed through. Sirens wailing.
‘What?’
‘I killed someone,’ Caitlyn said.
‘Yeah?’ The blond man gave a crooked smile. ‘Welcome to the club, sweetheart.’
Chapter 72
I WAS IN a tiny cubicle lined with pale green curtains, lying stiff as a rod under hot white lights. I jolted as I felt hands around my throat, squeezing, hard fingers against my jaw. I reached up with my good arm and realised it was a plastic neck brace. The pain at the back of my head swelled and I groaned long and low, hoping someone would hear me and bring me drugs. Something was swimming in my system. Probably morphine. My eyes were running tears down my temples. Morphine always makes me cry.
I felt for the velcro strap at the side of my neck.
‘Don’t even think about it.’ Kash’s voice. He pulled my hand away. ‘You haven’t had your X-ray yet.’
The television in the corner was playing some game show. A plump, middle-aged woman was jumping up and down in excitement, apparently having chosen well from a selection of gold briefcases being exhibited by tanned models.
‘Zac.’
‘He didn’t make it,’ Kash said.
I felt a whump of grief in the pit of my stomach, hard as the blow of a fist. Immediately the blame swirled, as it always did, a cacophony of voices roaring between my ears.
You should have known he’d steal the gold.
You should have listened when he told you he was running away.
You should have known Snale’s house was a target.
You should have saved him.
You should have saved him.
You should –
‘You were pretty lucky, stepping back like that just in time,’ Kash said. From the corner of my eye I could see he was watching the television. ‘You’ve got first-degree burns. They’re like a bad sunburn. They’ll be gone in a few days.’
I lifted my left arm and examined the dark blue cast running from the crook of my elbow to my knuckles. My wrist was shattered. I knew the feeling. Had done it before, taking a swing at someone and hitting a wall instead.
‘Where are we?’
‘White Cliffs hospital. Four hours out of Last Chance. Medevac picked us up.’
‘Are you OK? Is Vicky –’