From the front room of the house I can see both ways up the street. It’s empty. I sit on the floor to try to work out my next move.
The Hunters were on to Bob, and now Jim and Trev, but I’m not being tracked. If they knew that I was here there’d be twenty Hunters, not two. They probably don’t know what’s in the bag, but they might know that Trev had been carrying it.
There’s shouting outside. I scramble over to the window to peer out, and duck down a second later to get my breath and to get my head into gear. The Hunter is back, as are the three stone-throwing fains. The Hunter is carrying the plastic shopping bag. She must still be looking for Trev.
I scoot upstairs to get a better view of the Hunter. She’s slim and tall and picking up stones to throw back.
‘She a friend of yours?’
I turn round.
A big girl in a hoodie is standing at the back of the room.
‘No, but she will have a friend. She won’t be alone. There’s bound –’
‘Her mate’s round the back. Seen her already.’ The girl folds her arms and looks me up and down. ‘I thought you were one of them, but you’re different. What are you?’
‘Different.’
‘Well, I don’t like them and I don’t like you.’
The shouting has stopped and I turn back to the window. One of the fains is on the ground, flat out, unconscious or dead. The big girl is next to me and she’s looking too.
‘Is she here because of you?’
I’m looking at the Hunter. She’s backed up to the house opposite and whistling a signal for her partner.
‘No.’ That is technically true as I think they must have been following Trev. ‘Look, I’m leaving … soon. I just need to get that plastic bag back.’
‘So, it is you they’re after? Should I give you to them?’
I keep watching the Hunter and grin but don’t turn round. ‘You could try.’
The other Hunter appears and more stones are thrown.
I shake my head. ‘Throwing stones won’t get rid of them.’
‘My brother’s on his way. He’s got a gun.’
‘They’ve got guns.’
The fain lad is lying in the street, not moving. I say, ‘Do you think you should call an ambulance for your friend?’
‘If I thought it’d turn up I might.’
Two more fains have appeared but they are all hanging back. Both Hunters are standing close to the kid on the ground. They actually look quite nervous. They won’t want a lot of fain attention. If anyone gets a phone out to film them, they’ll be out of there. I can’t let them run off with my stuff.
I pull my scarf on tight and am out of the front door in seconds. I grab two bricks as I march towards the Hunters. The Hunters are by the prone fain. I hope I look like his pissed-off friend.
‘What’ve you done to my mate?’ I add a few swear words.
The Hunters stand still, watching me, like they can’t believe I’m going to do anything serious. But I keep on coming. The furthest one pulls her gun and I speed up as she shouts, ‘Stop!’
As if that’s going to stop me.
I hit the first one with a brick on the side of her face and use her body to shield me as I charge the other one.
A shot, another and then I’m kicking the gun out of her hand and it’s sliding across the road. The bricked Hunter is out of it on the ground. I’m in a crouch. The other Hunter is too and now she has a knife in her hand.
It’s only now that I realize how good Celia is. This girl is a Hunter, a top fighter, but she seems slow and I can read what she’s going to do, easy. I get the knife out of her hand on my second move.
I don’t stab her but break both her arms, like Celia has taught me. I’ve got her on the ground, my knee in her back and could break her neck easy enough. I pull her head round. I hate Hunters. I’m breathing hard but her hair is silky in my hands and I don’t want to kill anyone.
‘Nice moves!’ The big girl is holding the plastic shopping bag in one hand and the gun in the other. She’s pointing the gun at me.
I stand, arms out in surrender. There are fains all around me and none of them look friendly. ‘They’re yours.’ I nudge the Hunter on the floor with the toe of my boot and glance over at the other one who’s still unconscious.
There’s two fains bent over the lad who’s sitting up now with a cut on his forehead. There are seven fains round me, ranging from a skinny teenage kid to two big, tattooed blokes. Another is coming up the road with two white bull terriers straining at their leads. The girl’s brother with his gun is probably not far away.
‘That’s my stuff.’ I nod at the plastic bag.
She hesitates but holds the bag out to me. ‘You’ve no reason to stay, no reason to come back.’
I take the bag, saying, ‘Not now.’
I wonder what will happen to the Hunters, but I’ll leave that up to the fains. I have to push past the gang that have gathered round. I head in the opposite direction to the lad with the dogs, walking fast and then breaking into a jog.
I don’t stop until I get back to the train station. That’s where I’d left Nikita.
arran