The Repossession (22 page)

The barn burned intensely for about forty minutes.

Genie had a vision of Marshall lying shot dead or burned alive – she tried to shut it out of her head.

‘What do you think they’re doing down there?’ Genie asked after a while.

‘Looking at everything. His notebooks, whatever.

Digging up the dog.’

‘I don’t think he buried it. He just said he was going to bury it to please me.’

Genie knelt down and rubbed Moucher’s head. She wondered again if Marshall was dead. She realized that she really cared about that. He’d been the first adult ever to be nice to her. She said a little prayer for him and hoped it was enough.

Around four a.m. they heard a car door slam.

Then more. The cars turned around. They watched two cars leave.

‘Should we go down?’ Genie queried Rian shook his head, barely awake, his head felt so heavy.

‘Uh-uh. We don’t know they all left.’

‘Marshall might need—’ Genie began, but Rian held her back.

‘He’d be the first to say be cautious. We’ll wait till first light. Not long now.’

Genie felt guilty. What if Marshall needed help? Rian was only trying to protect her but . . . She stared at the ground. Sandy and dry, it would be OK to sleep here for an hour and she had Ri and Mouch to keep her warm.

‘You think there are any snakes?’

‘Moucher here is a snake dog. Aren’t you, Mouch?

Anything comes close to us, pounce. Got it?’

Genie smiled as the dog seemed to nod at him. ‘He looks very serious.’

‘He’d better be. Got you to protect now, Genie.’

He took Genie’s hands and pulled her arms around his neck. ‘I think we’re safe. But we’re staying put to make sure. All right? I know you want to go down there. But I think Marshall’s dead. We can’t help him now.’

Genie bit on her lip. She wasn’t convinced. Not till she’d seen him with her own eyes. She felt Rian lean in to kiss her. She felt his lips and his hands holding her tight and she began to float. A huge shiny wall of glass was suddenly wrapped around them both and they were utterly, completely safe.

They didn’t witness the shooting star streak across the indigo sky.

Moucher woke Genie. He sat up straight and whimpered like he was scared. Genie sat up instantly awake. It was daybreak, the sun had not yet risen. Rian was still asleep beside her, his head resting on a rock. She turned and suddenly saw what Moucher was staring at.

The white-tailed deer was beautiful. It didn’t seem afraid of them at all and grazed on a lush patch of grass.

Genie stared at its antlers and as the light grew in intensity she could see some scarring too from fights. She reached out to Moucher and held his collar. She didn’t want him to do anything rash. Moucher looked at her as if to say, ‘Are you crazy, have you seen the size of that thing?’ but at least he stopped shaking.

The deer moved off back down towards the forest.

By the time Rian woke, the deer had vanished and Moucher was sniffing the ground around them, impatient to get home.

‘Ow, my neck.’

Genie smiled. ‘My shoulders. Can’t believe how

hard sand is to sleep on.’

She brushed sand off Rian’s back and he got up and ran to the bushes. Genie had already done the squat, deathly scared that a snake would find her whilst she was so vulnerable. She was looking at the cave when she noticed graffiti.
G & Ri Forever
. She felt suddenly very warm inside.
G & Ri Forever
. Exactly. She decided not to say anything about it – just commit it to memory. She wondered when he’d written that. She would have written it in the sky in reply if she could, in giant letters for the world to see.

Moucher came up to her and barked once. He wanted his breakfast.

‘Cookie?’ She dug the last cookies out of the bag for him and he snapped them up.

Rian was looking down at the farmhouse below.

Smoke was still rising from the burned-out barn, a wooden skeleton all that was left. The sun was slowly rising now.

‘You think it’s safe to go down now?’ Genie asked.

Rian wasn’t sure. ‘Maybe.’

Genie stood up, brushing sand off her jeans.

‘I hope they left some food.’

Rian looked at her and shook his head.

‘All you can think about is breakfast?’

‘I’m trying not to think about the trouble we’re in, Ri.

Or what happened to Marshall.’

Rian looked back down at the farmhouse. ‘Anyone who can use live, lonely kids and dogs for experiments, knowing they’re going to die, wouldn’t hesitate to kill someone who knew about it.’

‘You realize that means us,’ Genie said.

‘And that means us. We go down, get stuff and get the hell out, Gen. It was good being here, but we’ve got no business being here now.’

Genie shivered. She’d grown used to this place, even happy – and she couldn’t remember when she’d ever been happy.

They set off down the slope towards the farmhouse.

Moucher racing ahead, glad to be going home. Her heart went out to the dog. He was going to have a shock when he got there.

The farmhouse was silent. The burned-out shell of a Fortransco Ford Edge SUV stood outside the house. It had taken several surrounding trees and bushes with it but hadn’t caused major damage. There was no sign of Marshall. Moucher was barking and if that didn’t get anyone’s attention, nothing would. Genie looked at Ri and he signalled that they should go by the back way.

Genie nodded.

They looked in through Marshall’s ground-floor bedroom window. It was a mess. Someone had trashed it.

Rian listened for trouble at the back door left ajar but all he could hear was the sound of the fridge. The power was back on, at least.

They didn’t go in. Rian didn’t feel it was safe. He signalled to Genie to go around to the front.

They emerged by the overgrown blackberry bushes at the side of the house.

Moucher spotted them and ran up, wagging his tail.

He had no idea what was going on. Genie could see a lot more trees had perished behind the barn than she’d originally thought but weirdly one tree stood untouched and green, whilst those all around it were crispy black.

‘Where’s Marshall?’ Genie asked him and Moucher immediately dashed off towards the barn.

They followed, cautiously, hoping there was no one in the house watching.

The barn frame was a charred ember, still smoking.

The remains of an old tractor all that had survived inside.

The smell of cinders and ash was strong. Moucher was barking again. Genie recognized that his tone had changed; it wasn’t a happy bark.

‘I don’t think I want to look,’ Genie said, wincing.

Rian said nothing, but rounded the corner and checked his steps.

Marshall was lying on the ground, his prosthetic leg detached and partially burned where he’d fallen. Beside him lay his shotgun, the stock blackened and blistered.

The paint on his truck was scorched, but the truck itself had survived intact and Rian could see that Marshall had been trying to save it; an empty fire extinguisher lay on the ground. Marshall must have been overwhelmed by the fumes or the heat. Certainly his face was red and looked sore. His jacket was badly singed. Rian knelt over him and felt his pulse. He was still alive! Moucher was pawing him, trying to wake him.

‘He needs to get to the hospital now.’

‘We should phone his son. The cop.’

‘We have to help him, Genie. Go to the house, get some water.’

‘What you going to do?’

‘See if the truck still works. He has to get to hospital today. We can’t wait for people to come.’

Genie ran off, Moucher following.

‘Be careful, we don’t know if anyone’s still inside,’

Rian shouted after her.

Genie was strongly aware of that. She nervously approached the farmhouse, heart beating wildly. Marshall

hadn’t looked very alive to her, but they had to try and save him. Worse, the closest hospital was in Spurlake, the very last place she ever wanted to go back to.

The door swung open. Bravely she let Moucher enter first. He found no surprises. Not unless you counted the wrecked furniture.

Genie walked in, stepping over broken glass. The kitchen had been turned over, but the fridge was still on, the water inside would be safe in the sealed bottles. She quickly emptied some chow for Moucher into his bowl and then ran out again clutching a bottle of water.

Rian somehow got liquid down Marshall’s throat, Genie holding his head up. She noticed the burns on his hands and how his nostrils were swollen. The fire had burned his nose hairs and that had to hurt!

‘I’ll get the truck started,’ Rian said. ‘Go back to the house. Get rugs, a pillow, bandages, there’s some in the bathroom. Also some ice and grab us something to eat. It’s a long drive.’

‘We have to go to Spurlake?’

‘The next hospital would be Abbotsford and that’s too risky. Sorry, Genie, but we’ve got no choice.’

Genie knew that, but had to ask. She had a real fear of going back. She set off again. Rian was suddenly so self-assured and in control. It helped calm her.

*

All the pictures of the missing kids were gone from the bathroom. The medicine cabinet was emptied, all the pills and potions lying in the bath, most spilled. Genie plucked the bandages out and then some painkillers, in case Marshall woke up.

Back in the kitchen she swiftly made some fried egg sandwiches. It was about the only thing she could think of that was fast and wasn’t spoiled. Keep them going, she figured. She needed ice and knew there had been some cubes in a bag in the deep freeze.

She ran to the back, Moucher at her heels again.

‘We’re going back to Spurlake, Mouch. Got to get to the hospital. You’re coming too.’

Moucher looked at her expectantly as she opened the freezer. Genie looked inside. Her scream was probably heard all the way down in Vancouver.

When Rian arrived, out of breath and wild eyed, Genie was still shaking. He was carrying a tyre rod, ready for anything. Genie was packing the sandwiches. She had ice and dog biscuits ready to go. He could see she was trying to be ‘normal’.

‘What?’ Rian asked. ‘I heard you scream.’

Genie just pointed towards the freezer. She still

couldn’t speak.

Rian went over to the deep freeze. The remains of the dog they had found were in there. The dog’s head had been severed. Beside it lay the carcass. Gross. Just lying there on top of the frozen meat and vegetables.

‘Did you call his son?’

‘No. Sorry. I was freaked.’

Rian slammed the lid down. That he understood.

He went to the phone on the wall. Miller’s number was first on the list.

‘What do I tell him?’

‘Tell him Marshall’s still alive first,’ Genie remarked.

‘Then tell him about the men who burned the barn. I’m going to brush my teeth and get rugs.’

Rian stared after her. One moment she’s acting totally spooked then utterly normal. He dialled. He didn’t want to be calling a cop, but they had no choice. It went straight to voicemail. Rian sighed with relief. He could say everything now without fear of interrogation.

Upstairs, Genie hesitated. Why couldn’t she and Ri just keep going? She knew they had to help Marshall. You don’t really have a choice about that kind of thing. Karma and all that stuff. You had to do what’s right, but go back to Spurlake? Face her mother and Reverend Schneider all over again? She didn’t

know if she could do that.

She saw the shadow on the wall move as she left the bedroom. She jumped.

It was barely a shadow, just a finger of light.

‘Denis?’

It was Denis, she was sure of it, but he was barely there.

He had no voice, just his eyes followed her.

‘We’re taking Marshall to Spurlake hospital,’ she told him. ‘I’m sorry I haven’t helped you, Denis. I guess I haven’t helped anyone.’

Denis shook his head. Genie thought she saw him say goodbye. Denis soon would be no more, she knew that. It must take a huge effort to even come to here.

She felt hot tears forming. Denis had been so sure she could help him.

‘Got to go,’ Rian was shouting from downstairs. ‘Genie?’

‘Coming.’ She moved towards the stairs and glanced back at the wall. Denis had gone. As she walked down the stairs she resolved that this could not end here. She had to do something to help the missing kids – stop the Fortress experiments, expose it somehow.

They rolled Marshall on to a rug, heaved him on to Rian’s shoulders and then finally tipped him into the back of the truck. He was heavy, even if he did only have one leg.

Genie was scared to hurt him further. She wrapped rugs around him, wedged him up against a hay bale to stop him rolling.

‘The cop wasn’t answering. I left him a message to come to the hospital. You got ice in the bag? Wondering if you should put some on his burns.’

Genie looked back at Marshall lying there in the back and thought she remembered something from first aid classes at school. ‘I’ll cool the burns first, then put the plastic bag over his stump, cover the worst of it anyway.

You can’t put anything there that might stick to the flesh.

You sure you can drive this thing?’

‘I drove it back from the store on Monday,’ Rian confessed. ‘Marshall was too tired to drive. You slept in, remember?’

Genie blinked. She remembered he’d got up real early and gone to get stuff for the roof. Well, at least he’d had some practice.

‘When we come back you have to teach me. All right?’

Rian looked at her a moment, then smiled. ‘Deal.’

‘Get going,’ Genie told him. ‘I’ll close the gates after you.’

Moucher was last up and settled in beside Marshall.

Rian got the truck started and lurched off. Genie watched, impressed he didn’t hit anything as he drove forward. He

stopped to wait for her to close the gates.

‘Wait,’ Genie shouted, as she put the chain on. She suddenly ran into the forest.

‘Genie? What the . . . ?’

Genie wasn’t listening. She crashed through the undergrowth and found what she glimpsed only briefly.