Satisfied the Collective remained undisturbed after what
could only have been a second explosion, Ella returned to the front hall expecting to find Marianna waiting to be released. She looked up at the room to see the top part of the open door but saw no sign of her. When she climbed the stairs, she saw Marianna crouching by the door the two remaining young girls were in, and whispering to them.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
Marianna turned and stood. ‘You have two young girls locked in this room; I demand you release them, immediately.’
Ella’s brow rose. ‘You demand? You’re not in any position to make demands of me, Marianna.’
‘You said Martinsville was over, finished.’
‘And so it is.’
‘Then please, open this door so I can take the girls with me!’
Ella paused, as though contemplating Marianna’s request, she was going to leave the girls where they were and inform the authorities of there location once they’d arrived, but if Marianna wanted them … she could have them. Ella reached into her dress pocket, retrieved a bunch of keys, and was about to poke through them when she thought she heard a woman shouting outside.
Here,’ she said, tossing them to Marianna. ‘You get them out.’
When Ella reached the bottom of the stairs, she turned into the right wing of the building and looked from one of the windows. Off to her left she saw a white van sitting there, just before the steps and facing away from the doors, but she couldn’t see anybody nearby. Even so, she mused, turning away from the window, it made little difference now; she’d already accepted the end was close at hand.
A few seconds later she heard a door on the vehicle slam shut. Again she looked out, this time to see the van being driven away along Main Street, she watched from the crowded window until it disappeared from view, wandering what that investigator, or whomever he’d sent up there to do his bidding, could be up to now. When she returned to the front hall, she found Marianna still trying the keys in the locked upstairs door.
Marianna looked over the banister. ‘Which key is it?’ she screamed.
Ella climbed the stairs taking the bunch of keys from Marianna and discarded three of them before unlocking the door and pushing it open.
Marianna rushed in to see one girl sat on a small bed, curled into a tight ball; she wore a dirty pink dress and cried constantly. The young girl looked at her for a brief moment before curling up again. If Marianna had to guess, she’d say she looked no older than twelve. The other girl was standing against the far wall under a small window, she was dressed in jeans, and a red woollen jumper, and neither of them wore socks or shoes.
‘Jenny?’ questioned Marianna to the one standing.
The girl under the window nodded in answer. ‘Are you Marianna?’ she asked.
Marianna also nodded, and then sat beside the girl on the bed, who, apart from still crying, hardly responded.
‘What have you done to them?’ she asked, infuriated.
Ella stood on the landing just outside the doorway. ‘They haven’t been harmed if that’s what you mean; I can assure you of that.’
Marianna glared in disbelief. ‘Maybe not physically,’ she retorted. ‘But certainly-’ then, looking beyond Ella, she stopped herself short.
Curious as to Marianna’s sudden change in expression, Ella turned, only to see clouds rising outside the large window above the front doors, thick, black, bellowing clouds. She quickly snapped her head back. ‘Leave them, leave them here and follow me.’ She then turned, ready to start downstairs.
‘No, I won’t leave them behind. Help me … carry one of them for me.’
Ella looked again at the rising smoke. Then back at Marianna and the two young girls.
Marianna begged. ‘Please, help me. I can’t carry both of them.’
‘Then let them walk!’
‘No, can’t you see they’re frightened enough as it is? And, you’ve taken their shoes,’ Marianna said, pointing at dirty feet.
Ella went back to the room and picked up the girl sitting on the bed, Marianna picked up Jenny and followed her downstairs. Once Ella entered the kitchen, she pressed a button by the door and a loud, repeating claxon, sounded throughout the building. Still holding the young girl, she reached down opening a hatch in the kitchen floor. Marianna followed down the steps and was surprised to hear people behind her, many people.
Ella managed to get the basement door unlocked as the crowd caught up to them, one of whom, unbolted another hatch in the basement floor allowing them into the tunnels.
Marianna looked at Ella. ‘Where does this lead?’
‘To safety, you know we can’t go out while it rains. This is the only alternative we have!’
People walked by Marianna without looking at her, or at the girls Ella and she carried. Before long, all of them entered the tunnel and were heading south. Marianna entered the shaft carrying Jenny, and then waited on the second step for Ella to follow. After taking the last of the remaining flashlights, Ella turned, standing beside another hatch; Marianna heard her muttering under her breath but couldn’t quite hear what she said.
Once they were all in the tunnel, Marianna could see very little, other than dancing flashlight beams. She also found it difficult to breathe properly in the cramped space, she’d smelt it on her abductors and on Ella all the time she’d been near, but the stench now was almost unbearable.
After two minutes, the line running along the tunnel came to a sudden stop, and one of the Collective came from the front, the one who’d opened the hatch in the basement. He spoke to Ella.
‘The tunnels, they are blocked.’
Ella shone her flashlight in his face. ‘All of them are blocked?’
‘No, the only tunnel open is the one leading to the garage and cinema, but Brett lies there dead.’
Ella thought for a few seconds. ‘Okay, head for the cinema,’ she said. ‘It’s big enough for us all, and it’ll be dry.’
