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Authors: Sam Hawksmoor

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BOOK: The Repossession
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soon, she’d flounder. The water wanted to pull her under and it was so very cold.

‘Genie?’ She heard his cry, thought it was to her left.

More in the middle.

‘Ri. Ri, I’m over here. Ri!’

She felt something bump her. She grabbed it and it wriggled. She could see nothing but it was strange to touch and it moved again. Suddenly its head surfaced.

A pig! It was alive. Must have swallowed a ton of water, but it was alive and she grabbed its head to keep it above the water. The pig struggled a little but she kept a firm grip and talked to it. ‘Keep breathing. You’ll be OK. We’ll both be OK.’

Just saying it calmed her, the weight of the animal slowed her down and made her think
survival
. She could swim. She’d learned first aid and she knew how to save lives in a pool. The flash flood was crazy but she leaned back into the flow and pulled the pig with her, got her arms under his forelegs and kept both their heads out of the water. No one would ever believe it, she realized.

There wouldn’t be anyone to tell either. She was gone from Spurlake forever. The flood was her parting gift from a place that had given her years of misery. The pig squealed, but she gripped it tight and it must have sensed that she was helping. She hoped so at least. A surge of

water took them forward again and they moved at speed out of the main stream where the riverbank had given way.

Lightning struck a truck nearby and it burst into flames. For one complete second she could see everything.

Fifty metres away, damaged cars were all piled up against the walls of a giant glass tower, like so many broken toys, two vehicles burning brightly now, helping her get her bearings.

Lightning exploded to her left again, momentarily illuminating the glass building. Genie frowned. Where?

How? This was the middle of nowhere; who would want to build an office tower here? Men in fire uniforms with intense bright flashlights were running everywhere inside it trying to stop the water from flooding the building. She shouted out but no one was listening.

Dangerous showers of sparks were spilling down from overhead power cables. Genie and the pig were spinning around now, both spitting out foul-tasting water and then abruptly they found direction again and moved on, swept away into darkness.

Rian found himself among huge floating logs. This was dangerous. Hold on too tight and another log could roll on to yours and crush you. ‘Genie?’ he yelled again,

growing hoarse now. It began to rain again. Lashing it down like before and visibility completely disappeared.

He felt despair. He’d lost her. He’d saved her and lost her in one night and he’d live with the guilt for the rest of his life.

There were huge bright sparks up ahead and the lights on the hills blinked out. He suddenly knew exactly where they were. Up ahead somewhere was the hydro power station on a river bend. Half the water would go to the power station; the rest would be diverted by way of a channel to the lower level. There were giant metal grilles to divert debris and keep the logs to one side on their journey to the coast. Now Rian was worried that a whole lot of stuff was going to pile up in one place and they would be caught up in this heap and crushed.

Something crashed into the log he was holding and he was submerged again. He tried to swim back up, but his way was blocked by another log. He tried going another way and that too was blocked and he was rapidly running out of air. He urgently struggled to get to the surface again, his lungs bursting.

Suddenly the water flowed sideways and he found himself pulled along with it. He surfaced, took in a huge gulp of air. He was moving rapidly again with nothing to hold on to. The rain obscured his vision but he knew

instinctively he had been diverted – not to the regular channel; this had to be a breach in the riverbank. As the river was squeezed through it, the water flow speeded up. A narrow canyon would take some of the runoff and then a couple of kilometres after it lay orchards and fields. If he wasn’t knocked out cold by a dead tree, he’d be OK. But what about Genie? Where would she wash up? Was she even still alive?

She had no idea how long they had been floating but Genie and the pig were both choking. She and the pig had been bowled along for what seemed like forever, until quite unexpectedly the water had finally run out of puff and spread out as it had found open fields to flood. Now the pig was struggling to stand on the mud, whilst Genie was on her knees, throwing up river water and God knows what else she had swallowed. The pig had noticed the change first and violently twisted out of her arms. It stood rather uncertainly near her, resentful and angry. There was a light from a wrecked truck’s headlights pointing at the trees on the slope beside them and she could see that the pig was one big animal, like her, covered in sludge.

She couldn’t believe that she had saved such a huge creature. She had no idea where she was, but it wasn’t near the river. Even the river probably wasn’t near the

river either from the sound of water rushing by below her.

She shivered and coughed, glad she was alive. But Ri?

What had happened to him? She shouted his name but realized it was pointless.

The pig wandered off, steering well clear of the water.

Genie thought she had better do the same, find somewhere dry on higher ground. She stood up and shouted Rian’s name for luck once more, but of course, he wasn’t there.

Her voice came out all strained and hoarse. She turned and followed the pig up the hill. It seemed to instinctively know where to go.

Out of the water, gasping for breath, Rian saw a truck set off ahead, its lights sweeping across the water before turning and heading up a track. He shouted and was running as fast as he could, but the ground was muddy and he saw it pull away and dip out of sight over a ridge.

He stopped to catch his breath, turned as he saw a burning car about two hundred metres below him. Thunder rattled overhead and the rain grew more intense. He had to find Genie and shelter. She would be somewhere out there, dead or alive. He tried to block out visions of her body floating along the wild river. He uttered a short prayer for her and grimly smiled to himself; it was the first prayer he’d ever said and ever meant. God save Genie –
please
.

But that awful vision of her floating dead body stuck in his mind and wouldn’t leave.

She had walked for hours up the hill and then through the forest, following an old narrow track. Genie had lost the pig or the pig had lost her, but at least she had found an old barn. It never stopped raining and the thunder was still audible in the distance. The barn was dry at least and there were straw bales stacked on one side. She would be safe here. Rain drummed on the tin roof. There was a strong smell of apples and that was comforting in some way. Many farmers grew apples around Spurlake.

Everyone said Spurlake apples were the best in BC.

Thinking of this, she slept.

She woke suddenly aware that her chest hurt real bad and her eyes seemed swollen. Slowly she realized why she’d woken, the rain had abruptly stopped. She stirred.

She was snug under the straw but there was something outside the barn and she felt tense and afraid. She hadn’t thought to grab a weapon, a spade or something, and regretted that now. The sound came again and she was glad she had climbed up to the top of the straw bales.

She was afraid of rats mostly, in her mind she could see them swarming in the darkness below.

There was a snort then the unmistakable sound of an animal urinating. The pig had found her again.

‘Eew, Pig!’ she exclaimed. ‘Couldn’t you do that outside?’

The pig responded with another snort and walked to the bottom of the straw bales and plonked itself down.

‘Glad you made it,’ she said. Weirdly she felt a whole lot safer now the pig was with her. It was irrational, but strangely comforting.

She was about to settle down again when she heard another sound. What now? She tensed. Didn’t anyone get any sleep in the countryside? She saw another figure standing in the barn entrance.

‘Eew,’ a voice rasped. ‘What’s that smell?’

‘Ri! Ri! Is that you?’

‘Genie? I don’t believe it. Genie?’

‘Don’t move,’ Genie warned him. ‘There’s a pig in here and he’s huge. Don’t scare him.’

‘A pig?’

‘Keep to your left and there’s a short ladder at the end of the hay bales.’

Rian followed her instructions as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He could definitely smell wet pig, even if he couldn’t see it. ‘Hell, I can’t believe you’re in here.

I can’t believe you’re alive, Genie.’

‘Pig saved my life, I think.’ Genie moved to the end of the hay bales to greet him.

His head appeared and suddenly Genie was on him, arms around him hugging him. ‘You’re freezing, Ri. Freezing.’

‘You’re so warm. God, I’m just . . .’ He was stunned they had both ended up in the same place. Fate or magic.

Clearly they were meant to be. ‘I just followed this old track and . . .’

‘Hush, come here . . .’

He climbed up beside her and they fell back together on to the hay, holding each other tight. Rian was still wet but Genie planned to hug him dry. ‘Pull the straw over you and stay close. I’m never letting go of you again.’

He kissed her and she kissed him back, still stunned he had come back into her life. Below them the pig snorted, and they laughed.

‘There’s a pig in here,’ Rian stated. ‘There really is a pig in here.’

The rain began again and the thunder rolled overhead once more, closer than before, but both of them knew that they were safe and dry in here and snuggled up close under the straw, hands and arms and legs entwined.

Nothing was going to pry them apart. Moments later, exhausted, but utterly happy, they were both asleep.

8
Finding Denis

The building was bright. Glass walls and huge banks of computer servers, thousands of them, throwing off a massive amount of heat. This was a secret place, she knew that. The building literally hummed with all the power it consumed. She had no idea how she’d got here, but she knew she was trespassing. She was stood barefoot in a corridor unable to decide which way to go. Someone was coming and they meant her harm, but there was nowhere to hide. She saw movement, half turned and saw it again. Untamed ginger hair bobbing on the periphery of her vision.

‘Genie?’ a voice said, urgent, scared. ‘You shouldn’t be in here. Go, before they get you.’

She turned and there he was. Denis Malone, the boy who’d disappeared two years before. He looked just the same, which was impossible. She remembered him now, messing about in class and making stupid jokes. He was almost naked save for some scraggy underwear and green socks. There was a livid scar on his left shoulder that

looked a lot like the cross burned on to her own arm.

‘Denis. I can’t believe it’s you. You haven’t changed—’

‘Go, Genie. They’ll come for you and you’ll never leave.

No one who enters here ever leaves.’

‘Where are we? How did I get here?’

‘You don’t want to know. But they’re going crazy right now. The storm came, some people fried and it’s—’

An automatic door whooshed open somewhere. The atmosphere in the room altered as cool air flooded in. She looked for a place to hide. She had so much to discuss with Denis. What had happened to him? Where had he been? How did he end up here? Why wasn’t he wearing any clothes? Denis ran behind a huge computer bank but when Genie rushed there to join him he wasn’t there.

There was nowhere to hide at all. It was impossible Denis could have hidden here. Impossible. ‘Denis?’

She heard footsteps, turned and saw a reflection in the glass wall – a uniformed security guard creeping along the bank of computers. Her throat began to constrict, she felt sick with terror. She suddenly saw Denis was at the other end of the room, behind her now, trying to get the attention of the guard.

‘Run, Genie, run!’ Denis shouted as he ran the other way. The armed man spun around to follow him. Genie dashed for the double doors at the end of the room hoping

they led somewhere. She heard a gunshot behind her.

Glass shattered. She burst through the end doors and her feet found nothing. She began to fall, fall and fall into black nothingness. She screamed as young, scared faces stared at her from the blackness. She felt them reach out for her. Heard them call her name. Was this what death felt like, as it sucked the life out of you?

She bounced, landed hard, all the breath knocked out of her. Then sat up gulping for air. She was feverish. It took her a moment to realize it had been a incredibly vivid dream. She was still lying on the hay bales; Rian was asleep next to her, undisturbed. The rain was falling noisily on the tin roof once more. The pig was snorting quietly down below and the gusting wind was causing a loose metal sheet to flap loudly above.

She stared into the darkness, unnerved. The dream was too intense, too real. Denis Malone was there. Denis had been in her classes for sure. He’d gone missing, she remembered that. One of the first to go from Spurlake, there had been ‘Missing’ posters pinned up on store walls all over town. She lay back, exhausted and tried to will herself to sleep. The building she recognized was the strange glass tower she’d seen as she passed by in the floodwaters. She was sure of it. She saw it again as the lightning flashed in her mind, the men inside with their

bright flashlights, the cars stacked up by the flood.

Why was it there? She closed her eyes. Did she really see it? Dreams like that were always a warning, but against what? Why had she dreamt of Denis, of all people?

She’d never spoken to him, not once. And why wasn’t he wearing any clothes?

Rian turned in his sleep and Genie stroked his arms.

She was safe. Rian was here, he’d saved her.
But now what? Where are we gonna end up? Where can we go? How hard is it for kids to survive out here? Who can we trust?

The last image she saw before sleep took her again was of Denis turning to run and save her. He looked hunted and scared. What on earth had happened to him? Was she meant to find out? Was that what the dream meant?

BOOK: The Repossession
6.48Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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