He narrowly avoided two cars as he pulled out into the junction onto the Magor road, they both hooted at him, but he sped off driving like the lunatic he had just become, Underwood was only two miles away, surely he would make it, he hit 85mph as his foot pushed the pedal to the floor, he took the left past the church leading to Underwood, almost losing control as the build-up of water almost aqua-planning him into the hedgerow he drove up the incline, the rain easing, he could see the trees in front of him, there was nothing menacing about them, he heard a crack of thunder, but it was far in the distance, his heart sunk as he realised he was too late, the rain had eased as his windscreen cleared.
He sat in his parked car for a few moments, the skies were still dark, but not as dark as they were, and it still rained a little but he could see clearer skies heading towards him, his mind was in a mess as he thought of what to do, then he done the only thing he could do, he done the only thing that his then crazy mind would allow him to do, he put the car in gear, released the clutched and rammed his foot on the accelerator straight for the trees, it was now or never.
Chapter 21
Tony hadn’t slept much the night before, perhaps it was because he didn’t indulge in any more homebrew, wanting to leave his head clear, he knew what the duties were on the morning of a night before storm, Steve Duce had done it before him, picking up what the storm had left, he wondered how he felt, whether he hoped there was nothing to pick up, as he closed the driver side door and started the engine, he hoped no one outside of Underwood had taken the wrong move and taken solace from the rain, all except for one person, he hoped Peter Ford had the common sense to do just that.
As he pulled out of the car lot, he thought about the weather and how the storms always come at night, and the next morning the sun would shine and the landscape changed, then something broke his trail of thought and he pulled up sharply outside of the lot, the landscape hadn’t changed, the view that he could see was exactly the same view that he had seen yesterday, only there was something different, the trees did not look the same, they were not fresh, vibrant and threatening, they were shedding leaves at the peak of summer, the trees looked as if they were dying.
Either the potent mixture he put in the trees was not what he thought, or the wino of Underwood, she was not what she seemed.
He put the car in gear and drove to the top of the estate, because whatever the landscape, that is where the new people come in, the place where they enter Underwood through the trees, that’s where the road to freedom leads, just the other side of the woods, the dying woods.
The sun was rising, the streets a hauntingly quiet, the anticipation building up inside him like vile in the mouth, he bit hard on his bottom lip, forcing it inside his mouth as he saw the battered overturned SUV on the edge of the woods, he pulled up beside it and killed the engine, got out of the mini bus and examined the vehicle, it was very badly damaged and as he looked Tony could see that the car had rolled and eventually came to rest on its roof, there was car debris everywhere and a whiff of petrol in the air where the tank had been ruptured, he circled the vehicle, he could see no one inside and there didn’t seem to be anything in the vehicle that could tell him who it belonged to, he looked around at the debris, took his lighter out of his pocket and ignited the trail of petrol leading to the SUV.
As he watched it burst into flames, he would tell the sheriff that he had found the vehicle burning and that anyone inside had perished, he really hoped that whoever was in that vehicle had somehow managed to stay on the other side, but somehow he doubted it, he guessed there fete lay in the woods, and that made him cringe.
He opened the driver door of his bus, sat in the driver seat and lit a cigarette.
‘Can I have one of them’ said a voice behind him,
Tony almost jumped out of his skin, he dropped the cigarette in his lap which made him quickly jump up and bang his head on the bus roof,
‘What the fuck’ he said, as he turned around in his driver’s seat, to see who was there, but he knew who was there, how could he not recognise that voice?
A grinning Peter Ford was the man he could see, he had a cut above his eye but other than that he looked fine,
‘How, how,’ Tony stuttered,
‘I’ve no idea,’ said Peter, ‘I remember aiming for the trees as I thought I was too late, the next thing I know I woke up beside the car in Underwood,’
Tony looked around the outside of the vehicle, he told Peter to get out of sight,
‘I have to hide you, you will have to come to the basement,’
Lying on the floor of the mini bus Peter replied,
‘Are my family okay,’
‘There fine absolutely fine, there’s quite a bit I’ve got to tell you, but that can wait, I have to get you hidden,’
‘I’m no good to anyone hidden,’
‘You’re no good to anyone dead.’
Sandra Skellam woke up and for a moment was wondering who the hell it was that was lying beside her, until she saw that it was the young Delyn Brown, who lay fast asleep, she looked at her for a moment, thankful that the young girl could at least get some sleep, at such a young age and no family here to support her, she wondered what the hell she must be thinking, she snook out of the bed so as not to awake her and went into the kitchen, she clicked the kettle and prepared her coffee and as she sipped it, the events of the previous night came flooding back, how she was the one that was due to be sentenced and would have surely perished if it wasn’t for the intervention of Sue Bradshaw, she remembered the skies changing and the storm coming, how did she do that ? She thought, did she do that?
Delyn walked into the kitchen not long after, Sandra was on her second cup of coffee, enjoying the taste that was lingering in her mouth, she could never remember coffee tasting this good, it was no different to what she used herself, she was wondering whether it was the euphoria building up inside her, something had changed last night, she wasn’t sure what it was, but the fear normally shown by the residents of underwood just wasn’t there last night.
‘Did you sleep well’ she asked Delyn, who had sat down with a glass of orange juice, Sandra recalled the beautiful girl she had first met even though she was covered in mud, now she looked like some washed out teenager,
‘I did actually’ she answered, sounding a bit more sprightly than usual ‘I think it was because I had someone beside me’ she gave a smile as if wanting assurance, Sandra leant across the table and took her hand in both of hers,
‘Looks like you’re going to have some company for a while’ she told her, Delyn’s face showed that she was pleased with that.
They sat drinking their drinks until they heard the hatch opening in the other room,
‘Quick hide’ Sandra told Delyn in a somewhat panicky voice, Delyn looked around the kitchen, there was nowhere to hide, to get to the other rooms she would have to go through the room with the hatch and she would surely be seen, Sandra realised this and grabbed the largest knife she could find in the kitchen drawer and she stood in the kitchen to face her assassin with Delyn shaking behind her.
She watched the door slowly open, wondering whether to attack straight away and have the element of surprise, or wait until she saw her attacker was and then hit them with all her might, but she waited a moment to long as the door opened,
‘Put the kettle on, I’m dying for a coffee,’
She ran at Peter still with the knife in her hand, Delyn thought she was about to stab him and let out a scream, Sandra threw her arms around Peter’s neck,