The Perimeter (26 page)

‘Listen to me, Riley,’ Pa said. ‘And listen hard.’

I bit my knuckles and listened.

‘FJ wants to kill you,’ Pa said through gritted teeth. ‘He wants to take you from here and he wants to
kill
you. So get your ass back home now before I order the guards to tie you up and take you there by force.’

‘Fine,’ I said. I was shaking, but whether it was from shock at Pa’s tone, from the loss of Eddie or from fear of FJ, I wasn’t sure.

He turned to Luc, speaking more softly now. ‘Go with her. Make sure she does what I say. And get that head wound looked at.’ Pa glanced over his shoulder at the scene through the gates and I followed his line of sight. The swarm of warriors was almost here, blotting out the landscape, dark cloaks billowing into a white sky. A low drone accompanied them. I recognised that sound – it was their warrior chant and it sent shivers through my already ice-cold body.

Then came a single voice, cutting a swathe through all the other sounds. A voice which demanded to be heard. Everyone in the perimeter fell silent and listened to the calm, measured words being spoken. Amplified into the air through a loud speaker.

‘Return Our Father, James Grey, to us.’ A pause and then, ‘Send out the girl, Riley, to account for her sins. Then we will leave.’

The sound was distorted but even so, I recognised that voice. It was FJ. He really was here in person and he wanted his revenge. To hear my name spoken like that was the most chilling feeling in the world. Liss had said her brother hated me, but it hadn’t sunk in how much, until now.

Pa’s face turned white. Luc gathered me into his body as though he could protect me from the words.

FJ wanted two people.

Grey was dead. So that left me.

If I gave myself up, I could stop the attack.

I could save the perimeter.

‘Go!’ Pa cried. ‘Back to the house as quick as you can.’

‘But, Pa . . . What about FJ’s demands?’

‘That was FJ’s voice on the loud speaker?’ Pa said.

Luc and I nodded.

‘So he’s here in person,’ Pa muttered. ‘Good. That means we can sort this once and for all.’ He looked at me once more. ‘Now go.’

‘If I give myself up, FJ said he’ll leave the perimeter,’ I said. ‘You should send me out there.’ My insides trembled.  I spoke with a lot more courage than I felt.

‘If you believe that,’ Pa said, ‘then you’ve a lot more to learn than I thought.’

‘So he’s lying then?’

‘I wouldn’t trust that little shit as far as I could throw him,’ Pa snapped. ‘Go back to the house, Riley. Or so help me I’ll get the guards to carry you there. If FJ gets hold of you, we’re doomed.’

‘Okay.’ I raised my hands in submission. ‘What will you do?’

‘Refuse his demands,’ Pa replied. ‘He thinks we still have Grey in here alive, so I don’t think he’ll launch an all-out attack. Thank God Liss didn’t do what FJ asked.

‘Go, Riley,’ he said, kissing my forehead and waiting for me to leave.

Luc remained silent. His father had just been killed. He was in shock. I took his hand and we turned away from the perimeter entrance. Before we left, I glanced back at the guards, at the men and women gripping their weapons as they waited to see what would happen next. At least the shooting had stopped for the moment. FJ was probably waiting for his demands to be met. I worried about what he’d do when he realised he wouldn’t be getting either of us.

As we walked back home, we passed more of our people heading for the fence and I nodded my head in greeting, feeling guilty that I was going in the other direction. All the while, Luc said nothing, his head bowed.

Chapter Thirty One

The air was quiet in the wake of Matthew’s demands. The warriors fast approaching. A wave of black against the snow-covered plain. Jamie and his brothers waited in their vehicles, keeping a safe distance from the perimeter gates, spread out in two rows. Inside the AV, anger radiated off The Voice of the Father.

‘Why don’t those people listen to me?’ he hissed. ‘They’ve seen my army. They must know they don’t stand a chance. All we are asking is for our leader to be returned to us. And for the girl to pay for her transgressions. These are reasonable demands.’

Jamie wondered about the girl. Who was she? Matthew was losing his composure. He was probably exhausted. Their leader hadn’t undergone the same level of training as the rest of them. He wasn’t used to these conditions. Jamie realised
he
was the strong one now. He was the one who was needed. Matthew actually looked to him for advice. And Jamie felt strangely protective toward his powerful leader.

‘Did they hear me, do you think?’ Matthew asked Jamie. ‘Was the speaker turned up loudly enough?’

‘I’m sure they heard.’

‘So why don’t they respond?’ His temper rose.

‘Give them a few more minutes,’ Jamie said. ‘They need time to understand what’s going on.’

‘I’d think it was clear what’s going on – they must meet our ultimatum or face the consequences. I’ll give them ten minutes before we start to tear this place down.’

‘What about Our Father?’ one of the disciples interrupted from the back seat.

Matthew turned to look at the one who had spoken. ‘Who are you to question me?’ he said, his voice deathly quiet. ‘Take down your hood.’

The disciple lifted his hand and pulled down the thick material. The man’s face was lined with age, but had a strength about it. ‘I’m sorry,’ the man said. ‘I would never think to question you, but . . .’

‘But?’ Matthew pronounced the word carefully, savouring the consonants.

The disciple shook his head. ‘Nothing. I apologise.’

‘But?’ Matthew repeated.

Jamie’s heart hammered. The Voice of the Father was far more terrifying than the enemy behind the fence. He realised how lucky he’d been that their leader hadn’t taken offence at Jamie’s own questions. He wondered why that was. The unfortunate disciple quivered. His head bent in deference.

His posture must have appeased Matthew, as he turned his face back to the front. ‘Why are these people not replying?’

‘I don’t know,’ Jamie said.

‘Five more minutes,’ Matthew said. ‘Five more minutes and we attack.’

* * *

The snow was turning to mush already, brown smeary footprints staining the white pavements. Nearly home. What would I do once we got there? Could I really just sit around while people put their lives at risk to protect us? Maybe I could do as Rita had suggested and pack some bags. At least it would keep me occupied. As we turned into our road, I heard a shout.

‘Riley!’                                      

It was Ma.

She stumbled down the middle of the road, trying not to slide on the half-frozen slush, holding her fake fur coat in place over her nightie. ‘Thank God you’re alright,’ she cried, taking hold of my arm. ‘Is it true? Is Grey’s army here?’

I nodded. ‘How did you know?’

‘Denzil came by earlier. What should we do?’ she cried. ‘Where’s your Pa? Is he okay?’

I nodded again. ‘He’s fine.’ I hoped she wouldn’t ask anymore questions. I couldn’t tell her about Eddie. Not in front of Luc.

‘Your face!’ Ma cried, putting a hand out to touch the dried blood on Luc’s cheek. ‘What happened?’

‘He banged his head inside the truck,’ I said. ‘I’ll clean it up when we get inside.’

‘It looks awful,’ Ma said. ‘You should go and see the doctor . . .’

‘. . . Don’t worry, Ma,’ I said. ‘I think it looks worse than it is.’ Luc rubbed at his chin. Ma’s hysteria was going to send him over the edge. I could feel it. ‘Go back in the house,’ I said to her. We’ll be there in a sec.’

‘Come with me,’ she said. ‘Both of you. It’s not safe out here.’

‘It’s fine, Ma. FJ’s outside the fence. He can’t get in.’ But I’m not sure I believed the last part. I was pretty sure he
could
get in.
Would
get in. It was just a case of how long we could hold them off for. ‘Just give us two secs alone. Okay?’

‘Okay.’ She hesitated before turning back toward the house. ‘I’m going to have a shower and get dressed.’

Once she’d gone, I faced Luc, his face devoid of expression.

‘Luc, I don’t know what to say to make things better,’ I said, taking both his hands in mine. ‘Your dad was amazing. He died trying to make things safer for everyone. He was an incredible person. What happened was terrible.’

He gave a small nod and then shook his head. ‘I can’t believe it’s true,’ he said. ‘How can he be gone? He’s my dad.’

‘I know. I’m so sorry. What . . . What happened out there? Why were you gone so long?’

He took a breath. ‘We found the supply convoy, no problem,’ Luc said. ‘Traded them for everything they had. They wanted silver, cigarettes and alcohol, we wanted food and medicines. It was the perfect deal. Dad was so happy. We all were. We got so much stuff, Riley, you wouldn’t believe it. Enough to load up all five trucks and last us right through the winter.’

‘Five trucks?’ I said. ‘I only saw four coming back.’

 ‘Yeah, mine broke down. We tried to fix it, but we didn’t have the part. So we had to unload it. Pack all the supplies into the other trucks. It took ages. By the time we’d done that it was dark. Anyway, we decided to tow the broken truck, which was really slow going. It took hours. It would’ve taken days to get home at that pace, so we made the decision to get off the heathland and chance taking the main route. As soon as we hit Ringwood, that’s when we saw them.’

‘Who? FJ’s lot?’

Luc nodded.

‘What did you do? Did they see you?’

‘No. Not straightaway. We were driving without headlights. They weren’t on the main route, they were marching parallel to the Wessex Way, down along the forest path. Dad being Dad wanted to start shooting. We were up on the main road in trucks, they were down below us on foot. It was a no-brainer.’

‘But . . .’

‘But, we didn’t realise they also had a fleet of vehicles. We were too cocky and didn’t do a proper recon. We did manage to wipe out some of their soldiers, but there was like a gazillion of them. Too many for just the ten of us to take on.’

‘So what did you do when you saw their vehicles?’ I asked.

‘That’s when we cut our broken truck loose and tried to speed home. But FJ’s AVs were blocking the road, so we had to pull off the main route and make our way back the long way.’ Luc shook his head and rubbed at his forehead with his fingertips.

I took his hand. ‘You don’t have to talk about it now if you don’t want to,’ I said.

‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s okay. Then it started snowing and we couldn’t see a bloody thing. Once we reached the heathland outside the perimeter, they were all there, coming at us. Their vehicles chased us all the way back. Fired some kind of RPG at Dad’s truck . . .’

‘Oh my God. Luc . . .’

‘That boy is not going to get away with this,’ he said, his face tightening, darkening.

‘No,’ I said. ‘He’s not.’

‘We should’ve ended him when we had the chance.’ His voice broke.

‘Come on,’ I said, pulling at his hand. ‘Come into the house. Let me clean that gash on your head and then we can work out what to do.’

He let himself be led inside. The house was still. Just the usual hum from the genny and the faint sound of running water from upstairs. Normal morning sounds.

Only nothing was normal.

We shed our coats and went into the kitchen where I cleaned the gash on his head with a damp cloth, carefully wiping the dried blood from his face. Once the wound was clean and dressed, I made us some coffee, putting a large spoon of honey into Luc’s cup and stirring it until it dissolved. He took a sip and made a face.

‘Drink it,’ I said.

‘Too sweet.’

‘You need it. You’re in shock. It’ll help.’

He nodded and took another sip, came over to the table and sat next to me, dazed. I put my drink down and turned my chair to face him. He was lost in his grief, his eyes unseeing, his hands still clasping his cup. I took it from him and set it next to mine. Took his hands and brought them to my lips. A tear slid down his cheek and I leant forward to kiss it away. Moved my mouth to cover his. Luc turned his chair to face me and suddenly his hands were on my neck, my hair, my arms, and we were kissing. Salt tears and desperation on our lips. The cold of winter on our faces, melting to warmth and heat.

I shifted from my chair onto his lap, closed the gap between our bodies until we almost inhabited the same space. Breathed the same air. I took his grief and made it my own. His hands on my back. Skin-on-skin, sending jolts of electricity through my body.

In my peripheral vision, I saw Ma come into the kitchen. Heard her apologise, and then leave again. I felt a moment’s discomfort, but not enough to make me want to stop.

Luc slowed his kiss and ran his thumb down along my jaw. I leaned my head into his touch.

‘Was that your mother?’ he murmured, a wry smile in his voice.

‘Mmm.’

Luc sighed. ‘I don’t want to think about anything,’ he said. ‘I want to stay like this.’

‘Yeah. Me too.’

‘But we can’t.’

‘No.’

‘Our home’s being attacked,’ he said. ‘We should . . .’

He made to stand up and so I moved off his lap. His demeanour had changed from dazed and grief-stricken, back to the driven, focused Luc I knew.

‘We need to go next door,’ he said. ‘Tell Liss and Annabelle what’s going on. And we need to prepare ourselves to leave here. Just in case.’ He leant down and kissed me again, grazing my lower lip with his teeth. A slow kiss with a meaningful gaze fit to knock my feet from under me. But it didn’t linger nearly long enough.

 
‘You go next door,’ I said reluctantly. ‘I need to speak to Ma and pack some stuff up. I’ll come over when I’m done.’