The Border Part Eight (5 page)

“You’re having a panic attack,” Ben told her, hurrying over and putting an arm around her. “It’s okay, I think you just need to get out of here.”

She shook her head.

“Jane,” he continued, “you’ve been through so much. You need to go find your kids and be with them right now.”

“I’m not leaving you here.”

“You can come back when you’re ready,” he replied. “I’ve got a feeling it’ll take a few days to get this done, so I’ll come back up with you to get some supplies and then I’ll come down and get on with it while you take some time out. And then when you’re ready,
if
you’re ready, you can come help out again.”

“No, I -”

“You lost your husband,” he added. “You lost the man you love, the father of your two children. I lost my brother a long time ago, I’m used to the idea of him not being around.”

“This place has to be shut down,” she replied, already feeling as if she could breathe more easily now.

“It’s
already
shut down,” he pointed out. “We’ve cleared out the top eight levels, now we just have to finish off whatever’s left below. The hard part’s done, Jane. All that’s left now is for us to scrape out the human garbage at the very bottom.”

“I’m not leaving until it’s done.”

“Take a break and come back in a day or two.”

She turned to him, and after a moment she realized he was right. She couldn’t go on, she needed to go and find her sons and grieve with them.

“In your current state,” Ben added, “you’re more of a liability than a help. Please, Jane, take some friendly advice from your brother-in-law. The stag-headed man’s gone. That’s the most important thing, isn’t it?”

A little under an hour later, once they’d headed back up and grabbed some supplies from the vending machine at the bus stop, Jane walked with Ben back to her car. He had both guns slung over his shoulder, and the sun was rising as he stopped and looked toward the office building. After a moment, he turned back to her and allowed himself a faint smile.

“Tell those kids their Uncle Ben is gonna come back some day and make sure they’re on the straight and narrow,” he said. “Tell them they can’t go using their father’s death as an excuse to be assholes.”

“I’ll be back down with you in a day or two,” she replied. “If you’re not done by then, anyway.”

Stepping over to her, he gave her a brief hug before turning and making his way toward the steps.

“Good luck,” she whispered, watching as he entered the building. She waited for a few more minutes, debating whether or not she should just go after him anyway and get the job done, but deep down she knew that she’d seen and done enough for one night. The Border was finished, and that was the most important part. Climbing into her car, she replayed the moment when she’d shot Tom Lanegan, and she realized she didn’t feel bad at all. She felt good. She’d killed the man who’d killed her husband, and along with Ben she’d managed to rid Bowley of a terrible blight. Starting the engine, she turned the car around and headed home, while trying to work out what she was going to do now that Jack was gone.

***

“He’s going to need a lot of physiotherapy,” the doctor explained, keeping his voice low as he talked to Ruth in the doorway, “but you mustn’t lose hope. I’m sure your husband will be able to walk and talk again at the end of it.”

“He can’t go back to work, though, can he?” she replied.

He shook his head.

“The stroke…” She paused. “He’s always been such a proud man. I don’t know how we’re going to manage.”

Turning, Ruth looked toward the bed, where Alex lay with his head to one side, staring into space as if his mind was filled with a million other things. Even as his wife and the doctor stood discussing his rehab options, Alex’s thoughts were lost in an aching sense of regret. For him, just as the horrors of the Border had been shut down, they had also become shockingly apparent. Now, finally, he understood the nature of the evil that until that night had only existed at the edge of his perception.

***

“What are you doing up?” Bob asked, stopping in the doorway as soon as he saw Beth sitting on the sofa with her arm around Lucy. The little girl was asleep now, having spent the past few hours listening to her mother telling her that everything was going to be okay.

“It’s complicated,” Beth replied, keeping her voice low.

“Why’s there blood on the kitchen able?” he asked.

“Complicated.”

“Why’s there blood in the hallway?”

“Complicated.”

He paused. “I have nowhere else to go.”

“No kidding.”

He looked over at the Christmas tree, which was slowly rotting in the corner by the window. The angel was up there, its head still impaled through on the tree’s top. After a moment, he turned back to Beth. “You know how you said you inched across the line toward doing bad things?”

“That’s something of an over-simplification,” she replied, “but yeah, sure. I know.”

“Well, I was wondering…” He paused again. “I was wondering if you thought maybe you could inch back? If maybe
we
could inch back?”

“How would that work, exactly?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Neither do I.”

He took a deep breath. “Can I at least use the spare room for a while? I was going to stay with Tom Lanegan, but the guy’s a complete asshole.”

“He’s not the only one.”

“Can I
please
use the spare room?” he asked with a sigh. “I know I have no right, but… I can’t afford to move into a motel.”

Beth opened her mouth to tell him to go to hell, before feeling Lucy shift slightly. She waited in case the girl woke up, but after a moment she realized her daughter was sleeping soundly now, which felt like a miracle after the images she’d seen on the phone.

“You can use the spare room,” she told her husband finally. “After that, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

“That’s all I ask.”

“It’s all you’ll get.”

They both waited, each of them assuming it was the other’s turn to say something, before Bob took his bag and headed up to the spare room.

“Everything’s going to be fine, sweetheart,” Beth whispered, kissing the top of Lucy’s head. “I promise.”

***

“What do you mean,
leaving
?” Mary shouted as she followed her daughter out the front door. “Where the hell do you think you’re gonna go? And what the hell happened to you, you look like a complete mess!”

“I’m getting out of this place,” Katie said firmly, opening the trunk of her car and shoving a couple of hold-alls inside before slamming the trunk shut again and heading to the driver’s door. “I’ve been saving money. I have to get away, I have to get as far from this place as possible.”

“But -”

“It’s physical!” she shouted, turning to her mother, almost trembling with rage. “It’s a physical thing! It’s not mental, it’s not emotional, I have to
physically
get away from Bowley or I’m going to lose my mind!” She took a deep breath, feeling a pain in her injured shoulder but determined not to let it show. After all, her mother knew almost nothing about the previous night’s events, and she figured that was how things should stay.

Taking a deep breath, she turned to look at her car. The low morning sun was casting an orange glow along the street, and for a moment Katie felt a sense of fear at the thought that she had no destination in mind. She was just going to drive away from Bowley and hope that somehow she slotted in somewhere else. At the same time, she knew there was a danger she’d just get lost and run out of money, and then maybe end up slipping through the cracks of life. The fear was invigorating, however, and after a moment she felt a new sense of purpose.

“You don’t seem right,” her mother said finally. “You’re worrying me.”

“I’ll call,” Katie replied, with tears in her eyes as she kissed her mother’s forehead and then climbed into the driver’s seat. “Or email, or something like that. It might take a while before I know where I’m going but…” Pausing, she stared at the road ahead. “I’ll find somewhere. Not every place can be like Bowley.” She took a deep breath. “Everything’s gonna be fine, Mom. I promise.”

With that, she pulled the door shut and started the engine. Five minutes later, she was on the interstate, trying to work out where exactly she was going to go. As she watched the road ahead, she felt her fear starting to grow, except that it wasn’t just fear. There was anger too, and rage and fury. And sorrow. And wonder. And curiosity. And regret. And joy. And something else that didn’t even have a name.

Finally she lost control of the wheel as she floored the accelerator and screamed.

***

Kicking open the next door, Ben made his way down into the darkness, with only a few red lights on the wall. When he got to the bottom of the steps, he looked across the main room of the Border’s twentieth and saw a shape moving in the shadows, twisting as if it was trying to get away. Raising his shotgun, Ben made his way across the room and made short work of the figure, not even looking it in the eye before blasting it. Once he’d checked that there was nothing else around, he headed to the door in the corner and kicked it open, and then he began to make his way down to the Border’s twenty-first level.

All he knew was that he had no intention of stopping until he reached the bottom.

Epilogue

Twelve years later

“No,
you’re
a dumbass,” Lucy replied, before taking a sip from her milkshake. Fixing her cousin with a frown, she slowly raised her middle finger in his direction.

“Oh, you’re gonna be so popular when you get to college,” Stuart replied with a grin. “Everyone’s gonna
love
you.”

Rolling her eyes, Lucy looked across the diner for a moment. A damp Saturday morning had turned into a rainy lunchtime, with a downpour during the afternoon, and now finally darkness had fallen and brought a wet evening; it wasn’t raining anymore, but there were puddles all across the parking lot, reflecting the bright lights of the nearby stores. Still, there was no place she’d rather be, especially since she’d be leaving Bowley in less than a day’s time, heading off for her first semester at college on the west coast. She was scared, sure, and she knew she’d miss life in Bowley; at the same time, she wanted a little excitement, a little adventure, and she knew she had to go somewhere big and lively for that.

Bowley was the kind of safe, boring town where nothing ever happened.

As her cousins Stuart and Oliver continued to talk, Lucy turned and looked over her shoulder. She’d knew she’d miss the regulars at the diner, especially the ones she never talked to but who nevertheless were a constant presence. There was the new owner, who’d really turned the place around and made it the center of Bowley’s resurgence; there was Daniel, the editor of the local paper and a guy on whom Lucy had enjoyed a little crush, even though she knew he was too old for her; there was even Mrs. Cook, the town widow. After a moment, however, she spotted old Alex Gordon sitting in the far corner, staring with haunted eyes at his coffee. He’d never been the same since the stroke, and his wife’s death a few years earlier had left him a somber, desperately sad figure. There was something about Alex that always gave Lucy a chill, and she knew she wouldn’t miss seeing
him
around.

She turned and looked out the window, and suddenly she spotted a familiar figure hurrying past, heading toward the dark office buildings.

“Hey,” she said, leaning over and tapping Stuart’s shoulder. “Isn’t that your Mom?”

Stuart glanced at the window. “So?”

“So where’s she going so late?”

He shrugged.

“Mom’s an asshole,” Oliver added, with his arm around his girlfriend’s waist. “Ever since Alex retired and she took his job, she thinks she’s all that.”

Ignoring her cousins, Lucy got to her feet and carried her milkshake to the door. She stepped out onto the steps and watched as the dark figure got further and further away, and then she thought for a moment about the date, and then finally she realized.

“She’s going to see
him
,” she whispered.

Hurrying down the steps, she made her way across the dark parking lot, taking care to avoid the puddles of rainwater. When she got to the far side, she could see Jane slipping through the shadows in front of the office building, and she thought for a moment to call out to her aunt before realizing that there’d be no point; she’d asked Jane so many times about what was really happening beneath the streets of Bowley, and every time she’d been fobbed off with a non-answer. Now, on her very last night in town before heading off to her new life, she figured she needed to be a little sneakier, so she finished the last of her milkshake, tossed the cup into a nearby trashcan, and then hurried after Jane, while making sure to keep far enough back that she wouldn’t be spotted.

A few minutes later, she watched as Jane unlocked the door to the abandoned building and stepped inside. After a moment, seeing that Jane hadn’t switched on the lights, Lucy hurried over and slipped through the door herself, at which point she could see Jane at the far end of the corridor, stepping into a side-room.

With her heart in her mouth, Lucy knew what was about to happen.

She made her way carefully along the corridor, keeping deathly quiet until she stopped outside the door. Peering through, she saw Jane setting a backpack on the desk and starting to pull things out.

And then, slowly, the door in the far corner began to swing open.

Lucy held her breath.

Ben stepped into the room, gaunt and old now, looking more tired than Lucy had ever seen a man look. His hair was gray and he was painfully thin, and the bags under his eyes had their own bags, reaching almost all the way down his cheeks to his mouth. Without saying anything, he set a shotgun on the desk and glanced at Jane, who hadn’t even acknowledged him yet as she continued to set out various tupperware pots from her backpack.

“So, then,” Ben said finally, his voice sounding harsh and little-used. “How’s tricks?”

“I brought you some extra this time,” Jane replied, still not looking at him, still focused on the pots. “Lots of vitamin pills, lots of nutrient bars, lots of freeze-dried fruit and -”

“That’s great,” he said, interrupting her. “What about stuff I can’t eat? What about ammunition?”

She took a case of bullets out of the backpack. “I’ve found a new supplier,” she explained. “He’s cheaper and he doesn’t ask questions. I’ll be leaving two cases here every month, as normal.”

Opening the case, Ben looked down at the bullets. “I’m sure they’ll be great.”

“There’s really nothing much to report,” Jane continued. “Um… Well, Lucy’s off to college tomorrow. Stuart’s still working at the garage, although he’s looking to start his own business, and Oliver’s thinking of going to do some post-grad work but he hasn’t really decided yet. Beth and Bob have switched marriage counselors again, apparently Bob thought the last one was making eyes at Beth and he insisted they get someone new. I don’t know, maybe it’ll work out this time and -”

Suddenly she looked toward the door, as if she’d heard something.

Lucy stepped back and waited.

“Please don’t have seen me,” she thought to herself. “Please…”

“Your Mom’s doing better,” Jane added after a moment. “They’re gonna put off thinking about the hospice for a while. She’s making a hell of a fuss about it, but I managed to talk her into making the right decision. Your father -”

“Don’t care,” Ben said firmly.

“Ben, your father -”

“Don’t care.”

“He died.”

Lucy listened to the silence. She wanted to peer around the side of the door and see Ben’s face, but she knew she couldn’t risk getting caught.

“Heart attack,” Jane continued. “I don’t think you want to know how he was found. Let’s just say that he died doing what he loved most.”

“Well,” Ben said finally, wiping his hand against his dry mouth, “I guess there was a funeral.”

“There was.”

“Did lots of people show up? Did the old man get a decent send-off?”

“Quite a few, actually. I was surprised.”

“That’s good. That’s… appropriate, I guess.”

“You know, he’s buried nearby if you want to -”

“I don’t have time.”

“You could make time,” she replied. “Ben, seriously, it’s been twelve years now, you can’t possibly still be finding new levels to that place.”

“Can’t I?”

“How far down can it go? I mean, there have to be limits. How many levels can there be?”

“I’m starting to wonder that myself,” he continued. “It took me two months to make the trek back up to meet you today. Every time I think I’ve reached the Border’s bottom level, I see another door in the corner.”

“And you go through the doors?”

“Of course.”

“And is it…” She paused. “Is it worse each time?”

“It’s sure not better, let’s put it like that. Mostly it’s empty, but every so often I still find… Well, I don’t know what they used to be when they first went down, but they’re sure as hell not human now.”

“Maybe it’s time for you to stop,” she continued. “That Paula woman phoned again and -”

“Don’t tell me.”

“The Border’s finished,” she told him. “You’ve cleared so many levels of the damn place, there’s no way it could ever come back.”

“Oh, it could come back,” he replied, with grit in his voice. “I have to get to the bottom level, wherever the hell
that
is. I’ve seen things down there, Jane, things that you wouldn’t believe are possible.” He paused. “I’m glad you stopped coming down there with me. I wouldn’t want you to see what it’s like.”

“But there can’t still be people down there,” she continued. “Not all the way down there.”

“Can’t there?” He cleared his throat. “Seriously, that place is -”

Lucy waited, but suddenly Ben seemed to have fallen silent. Swallowing hard, she figured she should probably just turn around and leave, but at the same time she wanted to hear more, to work out what, exactly, her uncle was doing. She knew that Jane brought regular supplies to the abandoned office building, and she’d figured out a while ago that she was meeting Ben, who blatantly
hadn’t
skipped town again. Now she wanted to know what all the talk of the Border was really about, and what
levels
her uncle was going down to, and -

“Gotcha,” Ben said suddenly, stepping through the doorway and putting a hand on her shoulder.

She stepped back startled.

“Jesus Christ,” he continued, with an expression of shock. “Lucy, is that you?”

Before Lucy could say anything, Jane followed Ben out into the corridor. “Lucy? What the hell are you doing here?”

“Please don’t be mad,” Lucy stammered, “I just… I followed you. I wanted to see what was happening here.”

“Oh God,” Jane said with a sigh, turning to Ben. “I swear, I had no idea she was here.”

“I believe you,” Ben replied, keeping his gaze fixed firmly on Lucy. “Wow. The last time I saw you, you were, what, six years old?”

“It’s been a while,” Lucy admitted. “Aunt Jane told everyone that you’d left Bowley.”

“Well, I guess I did,” he said with a faint smile. “I just left vertically instead of horizontally.”

“You’ve been underground?” she asked. “No way, what are you doing down there? Is it, like, some kind of bunker?”

He paused, before shaking his head, and now the smile had left his face.

“You should go,” Jane told her. “Lucy, we’ll talk about this later, but following me is definitely
not
cool.”

“I had to,” she replied. “I asked you so many times what was really going on here, and you never told me the truth!”

“And now you see why,” Jane muttered.

“Not really.” Frustrated, Lucy turned to Ben. “What’s going on? Why do you need bullets?”

“I…” He paused for a moment. “Jane,” he said finally, “can you give me a moment with Lucy?”

“But -”

“Come on,” he added, turning to her. “It’s been twelve years since I spoke to anyone up here apart from you. No offense, Jane, but as hilarious and entertaining as you are, a little change is always good.”

“I’ll be outside,” she replied, clearly not happy even if she wasn’t going to force the issue. “Just… be careful what you talk about, okay?”

“Gotcha,” Ben said with a wink, before leading Lucy into the office as Jane headed along the corridor. “So how’s she doing?” he asked.

“Jane?” Lucy paused. “She’s okay.”

“Come on, seriously.” He took some bullets from the case and began to reload his shotgun. “She’s most definitely
not
okay.”

“She took over Alex’s job,” Lucy told him. “She takes it very seriously, she’s a lot better than him.”

“By which you mean she doesn’t blame everything on passing vagrants?”

Lucy smiled. “Bowley’s a pretty boring town. It’s not like when there were all those murders when I was a kid.”

“Good.” He slung the shotgun over his shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with a bit of boring now and again. You should remember that when you head off to college in some big city. There’s no reason to…” He paused, and then he sighed. “Ah, who am I kidding? You’re a teenager. You’re gonna make all the usual mistakes that teenagers make, and maybe you’ll even invent some new ones. At least you won’t have a place like the Border bubbling away beneath your feet, ready to swallow you up.”

“What
is
the Border?” she asked.

“A dark place that isn’t going to cause any more problems. I’m nearly at the lowest level, I have to be. If it goes much deeper, I’m gonna end up in…” He caught himself just in time. “Listen, I have to get going, but tell Jane I’ll stick to the usual arrangement, okay? Thank her for the stuff she brought, and tell her… Well, tell her I appreciate it, and tell her she should try to relax a little. Has she met anyone else since Jack died?”

Lucy shook her head.

“Try to get her to go on a date with someone,” he continued, heading toward the door in the corner. “Life has to move on.”

“Are you just going back down there?” she asked.

“I sure as hell am.”

“And when will you come back up?”