‘So what do you want?’ She added.

‘Can’t you be nice to someone just this once,’ asked June as she handed Sue a glass of wine.

Tony told them everything from the day Peter entered Underwood, to the murder of Steve Duce and Stuart Hillman, how Peter had got out and had a drink with them at the Iscoed Tafarn, he looked for a reaction at that point, there was none, as if it was just normal.

When Tony told her his thoughts on the storm the night before, and that in his opinion, Sue had created it, she laughed loudly, swigged her wine, she handed her glass to June for a refill, June refilled both glasses and sat back down.

‘What makes you think I started the storm’ laughed Sue, her look was mocking, challenging.

‘Of course you fucking did,’ said June in between sips.

Sue laughed and stood up looking down on Tony,

‘So what if I did?’

‘I’ve got to get those kids out, my only chance is a storm, the sheriffs not well, it has to be tonight,’ he pleaded with his eyes, Sue gave a smile and suddenly as their eyes met, she appeared as not the old wino that Underwood had turned her into, but the beautiful young girl that she once was, Tony tightly closed his eyes and opened them again, and stood before him once more was the old wino, but this time her grin was wide, her eyes full of excitement.

‘I’ll see what I can do,’ she said

‘Of course she fucking will,’ said June.

Both girls escorted him to the front door, Tony turned to the two old ladies,

‘Thank you,’ he said, ‘why don’t you come with us, there’s room in the bus,’ he added.

‘Is there free wine and cigarettes in the world where you’re going to?’

Tony smiled, ‘Don’t think so,’

‘Then I’ll take my chances here,’

‘Me too,’ said June.

Later that evening, Sue Bradshaw went out into her garden, put the glass of wine she held down on the patio table, she raised her hands and the storm clouds came at the command of an angel.

Chapter 23

Lily, Ivy and Delyn were huddled together strapped in and frightened, 3 young ladies brought together among different circumstances, Nathan was sat next to Samuel, thankful he had found a friend to help him through this, Eileen and Rebecca were strapped in together in another seat.

They held hands tightly, everyone had their hearts in their mouths, full of fear and anticipation, the thought of taking a trip into the unknown terrorising their minds, but at the same time filling them with adrenalin and expectation, freedom seemed so far, yet it could be so near, there was just Tony and Sandra to come and of course the storm, Peter could see Tony and Sandra now, They was running towards the bus, behind him the sheriff, chasing them and he was gaining ground.

Panic stricken Peter put the bus in reverse, screeching the gears as he did so, he could hear Tony shouting for Peter to go, but even if Peter wanted to leave Tony and Sandra he couldn’t, he had nowhere to go, Sandra was lagging behind, the storm not yet strong enough to take them into the woods, the poison hadn’t worked he had to help Tony stop the sheriff, Peter slammed on the breaks as he approached Tony and the sheriff and got out of the car amid the screams of Eileen and Lily telling him not to, Lily tried to undo her seat belt to follow her father but both Ivy and Delyn stopped her.

‘Dad’ she screamed.

They all recoiled in horror as they saw the sheriff catch up with Sandra as he caught her by the shoulder pulling her to the ground with a force and strength of a lion, he picked her up held her high over his head, Sandra tried to kick and punch, but she moved no more as the sheriff slammed her head first onto the ground, where she lay, her shattered skull forming a pool of crimson, Peter ran with a rage in his belly.

He noticed Tony was stood in front of the Sheriff ready to take him on, how he admired this man, he couldn’t let the sheriff get to the bus, not now, not after all they had been through, he stood beside Tony, like comrades in arms,

‘What you doing here go’ Tony shouted, not taking his eye off Allan Herapath,

‘Not without you’ Peter said through gritted teeth,

‘I’m dead anyway’ Tony screamed ‘I don’t live beyond this world’

The sheriff stood before them and he smiled, but Tony and Peter could see it was not a confident smile, they could see something that they had never seen in the sheriff before, and that was fear, the sheriff was scared,

‘There is no way out’ the sheriff said as he smiled, he made a lunge towards the two men stood before him,

Both men embraced themselves preparing to fight to the death if need be, not that they had any choices, but they didn’t have to fight as Allan Herapath fell to his knees at the foot of Tony and Peter, with the poison still inside him, it had taken all his strength he had left to kill Sandra Skellam.

Tony went to pull his knife out of his sheaf, Peter put his hand on Tony’s shoulder to stop him, they both looked at the sheriff, he didn’t look in pain, he just looked as if he was fading away like some dream, and as they looked the sky lit up and the thunder roared and all of a sudden the sheriff wasn’t there any more, it was the vicar they were looking at and he was on his knees and still the rain fell and the thunder clapped and the lightening momentarily lighting up the streets of Underwood, then the vicar changed into the judge and he too had the same smile on his face as he faded away and before the two men there was nothing, and as the lightening lit up the skies again, they could see 2 British army officers and an army chaplain floating up into the skies, no longer lost souls in a world that really should not exist.

The creature in the woods, the Wolfe of Underwood, knew he had to sacrifice those he chose to rule Underwood, he had to transfer the poison into them to give him the strength he needed, the woods was his domain, he would not survive without them, now he had to stop those that were escaping, they were his future food source, he had to stop them and like the wild animal he was, he raced through the woods after his prey, confident and hungry, strong and fearless, he was feeling hungry and he could see his prey ahead, he could taste there blood.

Tony and Peter got on the bus, Peter taking the driver’s side, they strapped themselves in, the storm was building up now and they guessed it wouldn’t be too long before they found out if his plan worked, Tony was still spooked about his own death, he just wanted to see his wife one more time, to tell her how much he loved her.

They could feel the bus being drawn like some magnet, Peter turned the engine off, thinking that might somehow make it safer, let the storm do its worse, let the woods take them to freedom, the trees started swaying heavily and the trees started to move, they hoped there wasn’t anyone on the other side being swept in but that was out of there control, and as the bus rose from the ground, Peter thought that it might be a better place with those three gone, everyone held on to each other, hearts in their mouths as the bus lifted from the ground.

They all could feel the force from inside the bus as the landscape turned and the bus was being drawn into the woods, they just all hoped this would work and soon they would be on the other side, the nightmare over, the two young boys closed their eyes, the rest in the back seats sat open mouthed, the two men in the front determined to see it through.

As the wheels rose further off the ground and was being dragged by some magnetic force at speed into the tree’s everyone screamed other than the two men in front, if they had screamed it would have been for different reasons, for in front of them in mid-air was the most frightening sight they had ever seen as the monster from all nightmares stood before them in mid-air.